


The Line Between Creation And Destruction Is Quite Thin.

by call_me_divaa



Series: The entities puppet show [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: ....Yet, :), And I know some people love to tease readers about the ending so, And there's definitely angst, Angst, Another super obvious tag I could've put lmao, Attempted Kidnapping, Attempted Murder, Blue and Dream are sad bois, But not actual murder!, Chapter 20 sucks period, Damn I can't believe it took me this long to mention the one relationship, Death (sorry!), Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, FGoD, Forced God Of Destruction Errortale Sans (Undertale), Gen, God I can't BELIEVE I skipped out on the chance to say:, Honestly when did Blue become the protagonist?, Hurt No Comfort, I detest both Chapter 20 and chapter 3, I have a feeling that a lot of people will get mad, I have no idea what I'm doing, I honestly don't know how to tag something, I offed Killer here, I put in this fic, I wasn't planning for him to be the protagonist, I wrote this instead of sleeping!, Ink is just an angry midget, Istg this story is just a separate entity, Killer's dead so if you can't handle that this isn't the fic for you, Like, Mentions of kidnapping, Nightmare's Gang - Freeform, Now it's practically a competition to see whose the saddest, Right?, Still, Sympathetic Nightmare I guess, This is my first fanfic omg, This is my first fic in this fandom! And:, Wait I probably should have mentioned who's dead, but now he just is!, cAN yOu tELl!?, even though I mentioned it in the summary, great now I can put the hurt and comfort tag, maybe some fluff, ok there I said it, seeing who I've decided to kill next, that I have absolutely 0 control over, tw Depressive episode, tw mentions of bullying, tw mentions of death, tw panic attacks, you guys are probably going to be super confused about the ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:14:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 39
Words: 81,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25150711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/call_me_divaa/pseuds/call_me_divaa
Summary: After a catastrophic event destroys a lot of AUs, Ink decides alongside Dream that they need to stop the gangs reign of terror. Who cares if some of their methods seem... unethical?Blue is suffering, losing his AU along with his friends. Then he accidently messes up a powerful deities plan, oops? Sure, they technically threatened to kill him for it, but surely he'll be fine!? Right!?The gang themselves are just a mess, dealing with the loss of Killer is hard enough, and knowing that both Error and Fresh are missing? Sometimes it seems like too much for them to handle.And Fate decides to deal with both of their chosen ones as they see fit. Who cares if their plan requires someone to die!?!? Who cares about who they are hurting!?!? Fate wasn't going to allow others to destroy their multiverse!
Relationships: Afterdeath (background relationship), Geno/Reaper (background relationship), Sans/Sans (Undertale)
Series: The entities puppet show [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830970
Comments: 5548
Kudos: 209





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there!
> 
> Welcome to my fic! 
> 
> This fic came to me in a burst of inspiration, so of course I immediately had to start writing it. It's honestly a mess, but a fun one!
> 
> Feel free to roast me in the comments below, criticism is greatly appreciated. And feel free to ask me questions too! I know I am not the best at articulating sometimes, so some things can possibly come off as confusing.
> 
> I promise I don't bite, I'm just another person putting their work out on the internet for, well fun.

"How many universes have we lost?"

Ink sighed, resting his skull in his hands.

"113 Undertale copies, 60 Underswap copies, the original Outertale along with its 378 copies, and-".

_"That's enough."_

Ink interrupted Blue mid sentence.

Dream fidgeted, looking anxiously at the two guardians.

"I'm just so confused as to how this could have happened." Dream tentatively added.

He felt Ink's anger temporarily turn to confusion, then once again boiling fury.

"Isn't is obvious!? It has to be the Dark Sans' along with the Destroyer!" 

Ink roared, shooting up from his seat at the head of the table. Both Dream and Blue flinched at the normally pacifistic artists abrupt mood swing.

The two watched as the artist paced near the end of the table, hand on his chin as he muttered angrily to himself.

"This has gone on for long enough." Ink proclaimed. Almost immediately lighting up as if he had an idea.

Blue and Dream just watched the creator, unsure of how to proceed.

"Ink are you oka-".

"Meetings over." Ink cut off Blue yet again.

He marched over to the other end of the room and slammed the door open. His footsteps were very audibly angry as he ran down the stairs to go to one of the lower floors.

Blue and Dream just watched with slightly agape mouths. They had _never_ seen the creator this mad before.

After a pregnant pause, Blue spoke up to shatter the tense silence.

"So, how do you think they did this?" Blue asked the guardian of positivity meekly, his hands wringing nervously in his lap.

"Honestly? I have no idea! I didn't even know it was in the realm of possibility to destroy that many AUs at once before it happened!" Dream groaned, clearly exasperated.

He leaned back in his seat and watched the ceiling with new found interest.

Blue looked at the other skeleton in concern.

They were in their private meeting/hang out room that Ink had made for the three of them. The room was situated on the fourth floor of the boards headquarters.

The board, aka 'The AUs Collaboration In Order To Maintain Peace And Prosperity' was a kind of council of Sans' from different AUs.

Ink being the guardian of AUs was the leader. Dream and Blue were kinda like his right hand men. 

But since the three of them were the only outcodes, and best friends, they sometimes preferred to have more private meetings.

That's why Ink designed the room they were currently in.

The roof was a view of the stunning night sky. According to Ink, he made sure that the constellations were as accurate as possible. It didn't really matter as it was still breathtaking. (Though it was nothing compared to seeing the real deal in Outertale). The artificial stars littered across the black ceiling also served as their light fixture.

The two outcodes were sitting at a long walnut table that was situated in the middle of the room. There were piles of paper carelessly strewn about. Some of the sheets of paper had doodles, or notes. Others had words angrily crossed out in bright red pen. The majority of those words appeared to be names...

The walls were painted black to match the ceiling with the space vibe. In the far left corner of the room there were three beanbags, a blue one, a yellow one, and a rainbow one. The beanbags were surrounding a small cherry coffee table.

The carpet was navy blue, or at least it used to be. It gained a new polka dot pattern after Ink had angrily thrown his vials at it. He wasn't that happy hearing about how many AUs they lost. It was also slightly shredded in a few places.

On the wall behind Dream there were two white boards. One of them had the names of the different types of AUs that were destroyed, the other whiteboard was needed to count how many copies of each AU were destroyed.

This place held a lot of good memories for the trio! But there were also a lot of bad ones...

Blue vividly remembered rocking Dream while humming in an attempt to calm him down; they had found out that Nightmare and his gang were helping the Destroyer...

Before that point Nightmare hadn't been _that_ bad. He didn't kill anyone or really attack any AUs, he just spread negativity. They all felt hopeful that they would be able to make him good again.

Dream would always talk about his brother before they had their incident. The two twins were tasked with keeping the tree of feelings and its apples safe. Dream was the guardian of positive feelings sworn to protect the golden apples, while Nightmare was his opposite. He was the guardian of negative feelings who had to protect the gross black apples.

Dream would always talk about how kind he had been. He would always read and talk to Dream, he was his biggest supporter, until one day he started to distance himself.

He corrupted the golden apples and ate a black apple, becoming corrupted himself.

When him and his gang of misfits started helping Error destroy worlds, they all knew he was far too gone to save.

As Ink came over to help console Dream, he locked eyes with Blue.

They made a silent pact, to protect Dream from the horror of what his brother had become.

Dream was probably beating himself up over all the destroyed AUs, he always tended to put the blame on himself. 

Blue didn't know what to do to help him. He couldn't help but feel sad for the other, it must be so sad watching your twin do something like this.

Blue couldn't help but-

"I can feel your pity from over here you know."

Dreams snarky comment jolted Blue back to the current situation.

Dream looked almost dead. He looked blankly forward, eye lights not really focusing on anything in particular.

"We'll never be able to save him, huh." Dream stated in a monotone voice.

"I'm sure that's not true! People can change! We just need to-".

"It's hopeless." Dream chuckled lifelessly as he cut Blue off. 

"Don't give me a false sense of hope." He deadpanned as he got up and left the room.

Blue was left sitting alone, voiceless, and ignored in the meeting room again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so future Diva here, and I want to say a few things.
> 
> First of all, thank you for checking out my fic! Um, I'm pretty new to writing, and this is my first major fic, so don't expect anything TOO good. I am bound to make mistakes, so don't be afraid to point them out, it actually helps me ALOT.
> 
> Also, this is the first fic in a series. 
> 
> As you may have noticed, this is the first fic in my series 'The Entities Puppet Show'. I currently have one other fic up in the series 'The Entities Puppet Show Extras!' it's filled with canon (and non-canon) one shots from this series, AUs, 'what if' scenarios, and more! I'm taking requests if you want to see anything, so you can check that out if you want to? BUT I recommend checking it out only after you finish all of the chapters posted for this fic because it may contain spoilers!
> 
> One last thing I want to say, feel free to check me out over on tumblr! (call-me-diva2.tumblr.com) Bug me with questions about this series, yell at me for all the angst in here, or whatever you want!
> 
> Anyway WOW this is long so, uh, I'm going to end this A/N here.
> 
> Enjoy the fic!~


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We take a look at Nightmare's gang to see their reaction to the destroyed AUs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I absolutely frickin adore the 'Dark Sans'' being a family. Idk, it's just something about their dynamic. So of course I plan for them to be the main focus of the fic.
> 
> Edit: Pfft- The Dark Sans' being the focus of the fic? PFFT HAHA I CLEARLY DIDN'T KNOW WHERE I WAS GOING WITH THIS PLOT
> 
> TW
> 
> This chapter does contain slight manipulation, even though there is no malicious intent behind it. So if that's something you can't handle, this fic probably isn't for you.

Cross, Dust, and Horror didn't notice anything off at first. They arrived in the living room and cuddled up on the couch, after recent events they needed quite a bit of comfort.

Horror then begrudgingly got up and went to make breakfast, leaving Cross and Dust to cuddle.

He came back a couple of minutes later with three omelets paired with avocados and toast, just to see the two in the same position. 

Dust and Horror both ate their food without really tasting it, while Cross just sat there in silence. Dust then had to force feed Cross because he refused to eat any other way.

Horror put the plates away in the washing machine and the three of them put on a movie. They tried to ignore the feel of something being wrong that was lingering in the air around them. Around lunch time they noticed Nightmare hadn't come down yet, that was kind of odd.

The three of them had been saved from awful situations by the guardian of Negativity. 

Horror had been starving in his AU, with almost every single monster around wishing for him to be dead.

Dust had been left alone in an empty underground to slowly die, and worse yet, in his state of insanity he wasn't even able to comprehend this fact.

Cross had been left alone in a completely blank universe where X!tale once was.

Then Nightmare offered them a place in his gang. They found a place where they belonged. They had all become a very tight family. 

So they were concerned when it was time for dinner and Nightmare was nowhere to be seen. He normally would have been down around breakfast time.

"Hey, guys?" Cross asked.

"Yeah, what is it Crossy?" Dust replied.

Cross pouted for a bit at the nickname, but then went on to voice his concerns about Nightmare.

Dust and Horror had agreed with Cross that something was up, so obviously someone had to go check up on him.

That was how Cross found himself standing nervously in front of Nightmare's door. He was worried about his father figures well being, and he wanted to see him... but he felt kinda hesitant at just entering.

After a while of just staring at his door, Cross gently knocked on the door. When he was met with no response, he opened the door a bit. 

He was met with quite a peculiar sight. Nightmare's room was uncharacteristically messy. There was paperwork strewn about everywhere, books were haphazardly thrown on the ground, their respective bookshelves having been reduced to mere splinters.

Nightmare himself was pacing by his desk, seemingly not noticing Cross.

Cross entered the room completely, quietly closing the door behind him. Nightmare still didn't notice anything.

Cross cleared his throat to get Nightmare's attention.

Nightmare clearly wasn't prepared for this because he instantly whirled around and snarled ' ** _who's there_** _'_ , while he sharpened his tentacles and jabbed them in Cross' direction.

Cross yelped and jumped backwards, Nightmare seemed to come to his senses as the tentacles instantly retracted.

Immediately Nightmare rushed forward to calm the panicking skeleton.

"Cross, are you ok? I'm so sorry I didn't notice you come in and you scared me. I'm so so sorry, are you ok!?" 

Cross slowed down his breathing as he managed to calm down, but he immediately noticed that something was off. 

It was near impossible for anyone to sneak up on Nightmare. Cross was the best at sneaking up on people in the gang and even _he_ hadn't been able to do it before now. He wasn't even trying to sneak up on him! Something was most definitely wrong.

"I-I'm ok Dad." Cross reassured the guardian who was fussing over him.

"Sorry about that Cross, I didn't notice you come in." Nightmare apologized again.

"Did you need something?" Nightmare asked.

"Um, yeah actually." Cross shifted his weight between his two feet nervously. 

"Here. Let's sit down." Nightmare ushered Cross to sit down with him on the king sized bed.

"Now talk to me, what's going on?" Nightmare prompted.

Cross inhaled deeply. "It's about you, actually."

"Me?" Nightmare asked, looking at Cross confused. Cross nodded his head in confirmation.

"Dust Horror and I, we-we've been worried about you, ok!?" Cross admitted. 

"We've been worried about how you've been doing with recent events. You may try and act like they don't bother you, but we know that they do! And after you didn't come down at all today, I got really worried!" Cross pouted slightly, and Nightmare cut him off.

"Wait, it's dinnertime already? Wow, I didn't even realize, I was doing paperwork this whole time!" He exclaimed while looking at the clock on the bedside table behind Cross.

He gave a reassuring smile. "I thank you for your concern, Cross, but you're already stressed enough. What's going on?" Nightmare asked, rubbing Cross' arm.

"What's going on with me?" Cross asked as Nightmare nodded.

"Wait but this is supposed to be about you, not me!" Cross exclaimed.

"I know, but you're one of my boys. We are currently going through some tough times, and I can tell how big of a toll it's taking on your mental health. And I take care of my boys." Nightmare looked at Cross and held his arms more firmly.

"I want to know how you feel. I want to know your thoughts. I want you to know that you can trust me with anything." He told Cross.

Cross opened his mouth, but then he quickly closed it. He didn't know how to reply to that.

"Please, tell me what you're feeling, I want to know." Nightmare pleaded.

"Can't you feel my emotions though?" Cross asked. 

"Well, yes. But it's not the same as having you tell me what you're feeling. Because when you tell me you can also tell my why you're feeling the way you are, what I can do to help, and it can help you feel better in the process."

Cross opened his mouth- probably to protest, but Nightmare beat him to the chase.

"Please? For me?"

Cross sighed, giving in.

"Fine, what do you want..." He trailed off.

"Your anxiety has been really bad recently, which is to be expected really, considering recent events, but is there something else that is adding onto that anxiety?" Nightmare questioned.

"Well, kinda. Yeah." Cross admitted, uncomfortably shifting.

"What is it?" Nightmare pried.

"Um, well.' Cross shifted again to get more comfortable. "I noticed the last few times we went to trash those two AUs that something was off..." Cross trailed off.

"Really? What was it?" Nightmare queried.

"Ink is never there anymore, which is really weird considering that he's the guardian of the AUs and all that jazz." Cross chuckled awkwardly. "Actually, none of the guardians were there." He pointed out.

Nightmare hummed. "Do you think they're planning something?" He asked the younger skeleton.

Cross nodded his head in an affirmative.

"Noted, thank you for bringing this to my attention, Cross." He smiled at the anxious skeleton.

"Anything else that's been bothering you?" Nightmare asked. Cross nodded his head in response.

When Cross didn't say anything Nightmare gave him a look that prompted him to go on.

"I-i'm worried about Error and Fresh." Cross admitted, shrinking in on himself.

"What if they were in one of those AUs too?" Cross asked, slumping over more.

"Hey shh, it's ok." Nightmare assured Cross as he pulled him into his chest. A few of Nightmare's tentacles wrapped protectively around Cross.

"A-and I m-miss Killer s-so much." Cross whined as he sniffled. Nightmare gently rubbed Cross' back and rocked him gently side to side as he quietly sobbed.

Cross pulled away after a bit, and Nightmare smiled at him. 

"I have just a tiny bit of paperwork left, how about after I finish it I come down and make some of that chocolate cake you really like?" Nightmare gently asked.

Cross' face immediately brightened up a bit at the mention of chocolate as he nodded.

Cross quickly hugged Nightmare with a mumbled ' _thanks dad_ ' and turned to leave the room. 

Nightmare stopped him just before he left the room. "Remember, you can always come to me with what your feeling. And next time, give me a little bit more of a warning before you come in here." Cross just smiled at him.

He made it back to the living room to see Dust and Horror cuddled up together. Dusts back was against Horrors chest, and Horror had his arms wrapped tight around Dust. There was a movie playing on the tv, probably just to fill the silence. Dust was anxiously playing with the sleeves of his hoodie and Horror was just staring at a wall, seemingly lost in thought.

"Guys?" Cross made his presence known and both the skeletons whipped their heads up to look at him. 

Dust immediately held out his arms for Cross to cuddle him. Cross obliged, curling up against Dust.

"So? How'd it go?" Horror asked him.

"I managed to pry him away from his paperwork, apparently he didn't even know what the time was. He said that he'd be coming down soon though, and that he'd be making chocolate cake!" Cross exclaimed.

Horror couldn't hell but chuckle over the youngests enthusiasm about chocolate. He gently rubbed Cross' skull and asked. 

"So I guess I'm not getting any of that cake?"

"Nope!" Cross replied without missing a beat.

That got another chuckle out of Horror, and even a small giggle from Dust.

But now that the conversation with Nightmare was over, Cross couldn't help but notice something. He had gone to talk to Nightmare and see how he's doing, but Nightmare didn't talk about himself at all. They talked about him the whole time! And there was no was Nightmare didn't know this! And he wasn't even doing paperwork when he came in, so clearly something else happened, and paperwork has never gotten Nightmare that riled up before!

_"Son of a-!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Absolutely incinerate me if you see a mistake in my work. And thanks for reading my fic!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn a bit more about how the board communicates with the AUs.
> 
> And we just watch the gang being the gang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should probably plan out what exactly I'm gonna do with this story before writing instead of the vague plot points I have in mind, but eh, whatever I guess. I'm just gonna write what feels good in the moment and see how I can make it 'work'.
> 
> Edit: Yeah, I really should have. This chapter is a big disappointment, at least in my eyes. Maybe I should try rewriting it in the future? Hmm, that doesn't seem so bad.
> 
> TW
> 
> There is harrasment in this chapter, and there is a mention of death. Nothing too major, and it isn't that serious, but it could still technically be triggering to someone.

"After the massive purging of AUs, it appears that the Dark Sans' along with the destroyer are nowhere to be seen." 

The booming voice of Blue came from the TV.

"We don't know what they are plotting, but do know that the three of us, along with the rest of the board are doing all we can to make sure this never happens again." Ink's cheery voice rang, a hint of something malicious lurking behind it.

"Oh, is that the case? Then stop making those useless copies of AUs you dipshit!" Dust snarled, throwing a piece of popcorn at the TV. 

Horror glared at Dust in an offended manner for daring to waste what food they had left.

"You may be wondering what _you_ can do to keep your friends and family safe." Dream's voice chimed in.

"There are a number of things you can do! Here is our list of precautions you can take to ensure the Dark Sans' don't get you!" Ink smiled.

"1. Get better home security."

"Pfft, do people think we're gonna break into their house?" Cross snorted.

The gang found themselves laughing at the ridiculous list the starry idiots had thrown together. They had made a secret tv channel bringing news from the board about subjects like them. Unbeknownst to them, they got a hold of it. It was quite weird to hear people talking about them like they can't hear what they're saying, but at the same time it was a great source of entertainment.

Even though the laughter died as they saw the faces of Error, Fresh, and Killer, along with the rest of them, on the screen.

"Folks have been speculating of whether or not the Dark Sans' are dead due to their sudden disappearance, well we have news from Death himself of them being alive." Dream explained, looking just a little off.

They rolled a clip of Reaper sitting with Geno with a picnic basket, the two clearly being on a date.

"Oi, death!" Underfell Sans (also known as Red)'s gruff voice came from behind the camera.

"Oh I'm sorry what is thi-"

"Have the Dark Sans' kicked the bucket yet?"

"Excuse me-"

"No, you heard what I said ya little sh*t, have the Dark Sans' dusted themselves yet?"

Reaper looked absolutely flabbergasted, while Geno looked downright offended.

If the other four were with them then this clip could have been funnier, but even then the three "Dark Sans" found it hilarious.

"No, they haven't-"

"Oh for f*cks sake if ya can't even do yer job right then what's the point of having a f*cking job in the first place?" Red exclaimed. Reaper flinched, and Geno?.. oh Geno looked homicidal.

_"Excuse me!?"_

Horror grabbed a fist of popcorn from the bucket in Dust's lap.

Geno yelled as he angrily stood up stomping towards red. His one eye light shone multicolored and they could swear that they could nearly _hear_ Red sweating bullets as he hastily backed up.

Immediately the camera feed was cut off.

Dream and Blue seemed to be wincing slightly, while Ink seemed to be holding back laughter. 

"What did they think was going to happen when they had _Red_ be their news reporter?" Horror commented. 

"I don't know but it's hilarious." Cross replied.

As they turned off the TV, Nightmare walked in the room. 

"Hey Dad!" Cross called out, smiling.

"Oh, hey Night."

"Yeah, hi edge lord." 

Dust and Horror called out in unison.

"Ow.." Dust whined, putting a hand to the back of his head where a tentacle had hit him for his comment.

Nightmare chose to ignore Dust. 

"So, what did you find out?" He questioned his three boys.

"Well, they know that we're alive." Horror said.

"They seem to think that we are burglars." Cross snorted.

"They of course blame the AUs being corrupted on us." Dust sighed.

"And to never piss Geno off when it comes to Reaper." Horror finished.

"Any news of which AU would be safe to go to for a supply raid? Or any news of Error or Fresh?" 

"No." Horror sighed, the other two looking equally defeated.

"But we need to go on a supply raid soon." Dust pointed out.

The last two times they had went to an AU it was in a fit of rage over Killer's death, so they decided to trash up the AUs without actually getting any supplies, bad idea.

Now they were running low on supplies and they needed to get more, but they didn't really want to be seen. 

They didn't want word getting out about Killer's death, and as Cross had pointed out, something was quite fishy with the guardians of the AUs.

"Is there a place we can go to, but just quietly?" Cross asked. "I mean it's not like we'd actually have to destroy the universe." He pointed out.

Nightmare pondered over it for a minute.

"We could try either finding genocidal universes or timelines." He thought aloud. 

"That sounds good." Horror instantly agreed. There was way less food in the house than normal, and they all knew that it was making Horror quite nervous.

But they were all hesitant about the idea, everyone could tell. Nightmare felt the anxiety in the air and sighed.

"It doesn't feel right to even think of doing it without him." Cross admitted, clasping his hands together.

The air suddenly grew heavier, and if Nightmare wasn't the guardian of negative emotions and already used to it, the amount of grief emanating off of them would have given him a heart attack.

"Yeah, it really doesn't, huh?" Dust responded to Cross' admission. 

"But we need the stuff." Horror whined, even though they all knew that he was on a similar page. 

Nightmare couldn't stand to see his boys like this.

"What if I just go by myself?" He asked in an attempt to soothe everybody's nerves. 

They all looked at each other, before Cross slowly nodded his head, the other two quickly joining.

Nightmare patiently smiled at them. He got why they felt that way, he honestly felt the same way. 

It was... weird, to be doing stuff that they'd normally be doing with Killer. It just reminded him of his failure and how he couldn't protect his boys to save his own life. Even though he'd never admit that out loud.

'Alright, so I'm going to need a list of what you need, ok?" Nightmare asked. This seemed to calm them down even more.

Normally Nightmare wouldn't even think of going on a raid alone, but this was for his gang.

_________________________

The raid went by quite quickly. Nightmare went to a genocide timeline from a copy of Swapfell and just took what he needed.

But the problem was that while he could find the majority of the things on the list, there was one very important thing he was missing.

"Healing gel." He sighed. Healing gel could only be found in Mafiatale, don't ask because Nightmare himself doesn't even know why.

They used to go to a certain Mafiatale copy to take healing gel since they knew the optimal time and place to steal large containers of the stuff, but that copy got corrupted...

So Nightmare needed to find a new copy of Mafiatale to get healing gel from.

Nightmare decided to go to Mafiataletale #42 because it had the most negative feelings.

He opened the portal and found himself in an alley seemingly late at night. He quickly closed the portal and looked around, seeing that not many people were out.

He lurked in the shadows, trying to find his way to the docs in case they were packing healing gel. 

Now not every copy of Mafiatale had the same layout since it was a surface AU and all... but this was jusy ridiculous! Nightmare had absolutely zero idea on how to get to the docs because of how different it was from the other versions of Mafiatale!

After what seemed like hours, he _finally_ made it to the docs to find, to his delight, they did in fact happen to be shipping off crates of healing gel somewhere.

There were two dog monsters hauling the heavy loads, both of them having what appeared to be rifles strapped by their hip.

Now technically the bullets wouldn't really kill Nightmare, but it would still hurt like hell, and Nightmare really didn't fancy the idea of getting shot. 

_I need to find a way to distract them._ Nightmare thought, looking around for something he could use. 

He saw a stick laying on the ground. Could he use the stick to distract the dogs? Surely it wouldn't work... would it? 

_Well, there's only one way to find out._ He thought, as one of his tentacles wrapped around the stick and threw it as hard as he could.

The dogs seemed to freeze for a second, looking around at their surroundings, before one of them spoke up.

"Did you hear that?"

"Yeah, I did?"

"Was it a human?"

"I don't think so, it didn't sound like a human. It sounded like..."

_"A STICK!!"_

Both of the dogs hollered in unison, chasing after each other to see who could get the stick first.

Nightmare watched in shock as his plan worked.

_No way..._

But Nightmare realized that they wouldn't be gone for long, so he quickly snuck over to where the crates of healing gel were kept.

He quickly stacked three crates on top of each other befofe picking them up. He grabbed ten more boxes with his tentacles, and he was about to leave when he heard a voice ask.

"What are you doing?"

Nightmare quickly spun around to see this AUs Toriel watching him attempt to steal the healing gell.

_Well shit..._

He quickly opened a portal and ran through with the healing gel, not even caring to listen to what Toriel was screaming at him.

He made it through the portal and into the hideout. Going to the supple room with his findings he quickly organized everything into their proper places. Bringing the food upstairs, he saw Horror in the kitchen. Horror was anxiously sorting through the food they had, obviously trying to make rations.

Nightmare smiled fondly at the sight, and quickly walked over with the food he brought in order to ease the others worries.

"Horror." He tapped the others shoulder gently to get his attention.

The orher spun around quickly, but relaxed when he saw Nightmare and what he brought. 

"Thanks.." he sighed, looking guiltily at the food he had started to sort. Resorting back to his old ways would do nobody any favors anyway.

"It's ok." Nightmare smiled as he pulled Horror in a hug.

_I'm here for_ you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was done late at night, so I have idea how actually bad it is compared to ths others.
> 
> Anyway, roast me to hell and back if you see a mistake.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What are the Star Sans' up to? Yeah, that's all the explanation that you're getting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to give some more information about the building that Ink, Blue, and Dream were in in the prologue, even if it's on a different floor. So you got this chapter.
> 
> Do I smell some potential angst in the future~?
> 
> Edit:
> 
> TW
> 
> There is manipulation in this chapter in the form of lying.

Blue felt like something was off. He didn't know what exactly… just, something.

Whether it be the hushed whispers that die down whenever he steps into the room with Ink and Dream. The sudden disappearance of so many outcodes, or the feeling that Ink and Dream are hiding something from him.

It's not that Blue doesn't trust his friends, it's just that there's no way that they aren't hiding something and he's pissed.

Do they not trust him anymore? Did he do something wrong? Was he being too annoying? Why couldn't they tell him about what's going on?

Was he just being paranoid?

He couldn't help but ponder as he narrowly avoided walking into a Sans that was power walking through the building.

"Oh, sorry!" He exclaimed as he shuffled to the side, and held the two coffees above his head so as to not spill them.

The Sans didn't even glance at him, rude.

Blue ignored him and continued walking, some people were just busy.

As he watched the other Sans' move around the first floor of the board's building, he couldn't help but be astounded by Inks skills once again. The first floor was the largest of all the floors; it was made for the general public alongside the board. It had one wall completely made out of glass showing some gorgeous greenery along with the soft orange and pink hues of a sunrise.

There were multiple sections to the first floor. The library section, the food court, the businesses, and the 'All Inclusive AU Help Center!'

The library was filled with information about the AUs, the outcodes, resets, different types of monsters, and other miscellaneous information. It was one of the main reasons that this floor was made available to the public.

There was the food court, honestly it's pretty self explanatory. Ink decided to make a food court for when people were hungry, but then a decision was made to hire actual Sans' from AUs to work there in exchange for G.

There was the section with businesses run by different Sans' from AUs, Ink never really explained why he decided to do it- Blue just assumed he was bored. There were actually quite a few cool stores! Like there was this one store run by a Sans that had a bunch of different gadgets and trinkets! It was cool.

Then there was the help center. If your AU or timeline had a problem- the help center was the place to go. The help center was the whole reason they opened this floor to the public, but it was the least used by the public oddly enough.

Blue weaved through the crowd some more until he saw Red sitting at a table nearby. They made eye contact and Blue waved as best as he could, still being weary of the hot coffees he was holding.

Actually, now that Blue is thinking about it, why are there only Sans' here? There wasn't any other monster except for 1 Papyrus.

And the board was made up of mostly Sans', with a few exceptions. Which, kinda made sense because the board was made up of the people who were the most reset aware.

Still, a tiny bit weird… huh?

Anyway. Blue hopped over and sat down by Red. He slid the black coffee over to Red, who quickly snatched it up. He sniffed the coffee and quickly opened the lid, peeking inside. When he found nothing wrong about the coffee, he quickly took a big sip.

Blue winced at the sight of his friend just chugging down scalding hot coffee without a care in the world.

"You know you could have waited a bit before drinking it, right?" Blue teased his friend.

The Sans glared at him, then he proceeded to drink the rest of the fresh coffee in one gulp while staring him dead in the eye.

Blue chuckled at his friend's antics before tentatively taking a sip of his own coffee.

"Ow, hot hot hot!" He exclaimed, painting as he tried to quickly inhale cool hair, his hands were fanning the air as he hunched slightly.

Red laughed, a booming loud belly laugh that attracted the rest of the cafeteria"s attention.

"Wow, you can't even chug a hot drink, ey?" Red chortled, laughing even harder at the offended glare he got.

"Damn, I burned my tongue." Blue swore, causing Red to shake his head at him.

"I don't get how yer tongue is so sensitive that you immediately burn it." Red commented.

"Oh well sorry that I'm not like you Mr. I can stand all the different types of temperature." He snapped. Red just gave a bemused shrug.

They lounged in a comfortable silence for a bit as Red looked through an app on his phone, and Blue desperately tried to cool his coffee down just a smidge.

When his chocolate espresso finally cooled down enough, Blue took a sip, wincing as his burned tongue still hurt.

Red quickly glanced at his friend, then not looking away from his phone asked:

"Why do you even drink the stuff anyway? S'not like you need the energy."

Blue looked at him for a moment, hummed, and then answered.

"Well I may be more energetic than a typical Sans, but I do tend to nap during the day if I don't have a coffee. Besides, it helps me get more work done because it prevents me from being tired."

"Prevents you from being tired by giving you more energy?" Red asked.

"Actually, caffeine doesn't really give you more energy, that's a common misconception."Blue explained.

"Coffee just blocks adenosine. Adenosine is what causes you to feel sleepy and-"

"Don't need the rant, 'specially since we ain't human." Red interrupted Blue.

Blue felt a brief surge of annoyance at being interrupted especially since Red was the one who asked in the first place, but quickly ignored it.

He chuckled awkwardly. "Heh, sorry." Blue rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"It can sometimes help people with ADHD concentrate, so that's another reason that I like to drink it." Blue explained.

"You have ADHD?" Red asked, looking shocked.

"Haha, yep." Blue admitted. "Thought it would've been quite obvious." He told Red.

Red just shrugged in response.

"Honestly I would've thought that you knew this stuff already, considering that you were so close with Sci and all." Blue chuckled.

Red flinched at the mention of Sci, and Blue quickly felt guilty.

"Sorry, I should've realized that it wouldn't be a good idea to bring up Sci. I know his death affected you a lot." Blue apologized.

Red just turned his head the other way and shrugged. The air was much more tense, until Red mumbled something under his breath.

"Pardon?" Blue asked. "Sorry, I couldn't hear you."

"I said, it's those damn Dark Sans' fault!" Red snarled, slamming his fist down on the table.

"He'd still be alive if it wasn't for them." He muttered, hunching in on himself.

Blue looked sympathetically at his friend, he reached out and rubbed his arm- as if that could make things better.

Red just shrugged his hand off. "

Sorry I-"

"It's fine, just- can we change the subject please?" Red pleaded, even dropping his accent to make the important of his message clear.

"Um, ok sure." Blue relented, shifting in his seat uncomfortably.

There was an awkward pause as the two of them said nothing, then Blue decided to speak up.

"Have you noticed something off with Ink and Dream recently?" Blue asked his friend.

"Off? Um no- nothing other than the obvious. Why? Do ya think something's off?" Red asked.

"Well, yeah actually." Blue admitted. "I don't know, I think they're hiding something from me." Red quirked a brow bone as this.

"They'll be talking about something, then whenever I enter the room they'll just stop talking! Then they'll try to awkwardly change the conversation like I don't know what's going on. They've been treating me like a child! Always interrupting me, or talking over me. And they sometimes look at each other as if they know something I don't!" Blue exclaimed, flailing his hands wildly in the air and nearly hitting Red.

"I don't know if they are really hiding something from you. Besides, even if they were, surely it's nothing important, right?" Red added.

"Bu-" "

Anyway, I gotta get back to Underfell now, boss 'l be mad if I don't." Red interrupted with a laugh.

"Oh, um ok. Bye Red." Blue sadly waved, even though he couldn't help but feel slightly suspicious at his friend's sudden departure.

"Bye Blue." He waved at Blue as he walked away, throwing his Coffee cup away in the nearest garbage.

Blue was left at the table alone.

That seems to be a reoccurring theme, huh?

Blue laughed bitterly.

_____________

Ink seemed to be much more calm at their next private meeting than he had been before. Their last meeting was the day of the Dark Sans' attack, so it was quite heated. But this time Ink seemed fine, normal even.

Blue still couldn't help but feel unsettled as he watched the other guardians interact though. It all felt… fake? Everything was so confusing for Blue recently.

"Blue? Hey buddy, you here with us?" Ink laughed.

"What? Oh- sorry guess I just zoned out." Blue apologized, chuckling awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his skull.

"Don't worry Blue, it's ok." Dream consoled, smiling patiently at him as he grabbed Blue's hand resting on the table.

"I know your universe being destroyed by _them_ hurt you a lot." Dream said with such malice that Blue flinched.

"Yeah, I guess." Blue shrugged.

"So, to avoid this situation from happening again, I came up with a plan." Ink explained, leaning forward on his hands. Oh, Ink had a plan? It seemed to make sense, because there was something off about the meeting. Instead of sitting at the table with them, Ink had been standing the whole time. And the atmosphere between Ink and Dream did seem kind of tense…

"What's the plan?" Blue asked the artist. Ink smirked, looking extremely smug.

"We've decided that we are going to force the Dark Sans' into giving up." Ink explained. The smirk on his face morphing into a full on grin.

"We still don't know how they managed to destroy so many universes at once, but what we do know is that it must have exhausted them." Ink's expression turned more serious as he continued.

"Now we have no idea what's going on with Error as no one has seen him. But, we do know that the gang is starting to get restless." Ink cleared his throat.

"Nightmare was found in a copy of Mafiatale, alone. We don't know why he was alone, but he stole a bunch of healing gel. So, we're going to start placing heavier restrictions on all the Mafiatale copies for now. That way the Dark Sans' can't get healing gel anymore.

Then, after that we slowly start cutting off more and more AUs with resources that are valuable to them. Until they have to give up."

Ink explained to Blue. Blue instantly saw a lot of flaws in the plan, and it seemed like Dream did too.

Dream looked like his normal self, but Blue could see under his facade to see that he was tense. But Ink was looking at him expectantly, and so hopeful.

So instead of voicing his concerns Blue just smiled. "Yep! Sounds like an amazing plan!" He praised the creator.

__________

The rest of the meeting flew by, and soon enough it was over.

Blue left the room first, and Dream looked towards the direction of the door guiltily.

"Are you sure this is a good idea Ink? I mean- I feel bad lying to him and all."

"It's ok, Dream." Ink consoled.

"We have no other choice."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go off on me if I make a mistake in the comments section below. Roast me like I'm some beauty guru who was friends with Jeffree Star- oh, too real with recent events? Yup.
> 
> Edit: I am so sorry for that comment I was feeling extremely salty in that specific moment.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang are all having a bad day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know where this all came from, but enjoy I guess. (Trigger warnings are in the tags).
> 
> Edit: Hey me from not too long ago! You can't just say 'trigger warnings in the tag' because some people don't read the tags! And because there are trigger warnings that don't apply to this chapter! I have absolutely zero knowledge about writing a fic oml.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER 
> 
> In this chapter there are
> 
> -Panic attacks
> 
> -Depressive episodes
> 
> -Mention of bullying/harassment/abuse of a minor
> 
> -Mentions of death
> 
> -Self-deprecating/self-loathing thoughts
> 
> -Nightmares
> 
> -A character accidentally cuts themselves
> 
> (JESUS CHRIST WHY DID I E V E R THINK I COULD JUST SAY ~look in the tags~ FOR THIS CHAPTER?!)

It was a bad day for all of them.

  
  


The first person to feel the effects of the heavy atmosphere was Nightmare, actually. He was looking over the list of all the AUs they had lost again.

"God damn it." Came the soft murmur from the skeleton. He sighed and if his tentacles curled around him a tiny bit- well no one had to know.

He was just going to plan ahead on which AUs they could go to the grab supplies, and which AUs they had to destroy.

4 months after Ink had gone overboard with the amount of AUs he had made and there was still no sign on the destroyer. There was no way Nightmare was going to let what happened that day happen again. 

So of course he started thinking more of Error, then came the thoughts of Fresh…

He considered Fresh a son- along with Error and the rest of his boys. The young skeleton had been a normal Sans living in Fresh tale. But there was an accident, that accident caused one of his eye lights to become soul shaped. 

Usually that wouldn't be a big deal, but for Fresh it was. The young monster had been a genius when it came to technology, and he was attempting to make a tool that could shatter the barrier without 7 human souls.

He failed and the machine exploded. Nightmare is unsure of how that caused his eye light to become a different shape- the boy never told him.

But in spite the monsters who hired him spread rumors. They claimed that in that lab they were studying an unknown specimen, which had possessed Fresh. And now Fresh needed to eat monster souls to provide.

The poor _16 year old_ (seriously what is _wrong_ with those people?!) had been shunned and practically hunted. Everyone turned on him, including his own brother.

So when Ink and other AUs had gotten involved, they heard the rumors too.

Ink allegedly threatened Fresh, Nightmare didn't know what he threatened him with. But whatever it was? It was bad enough to force Fresh to constantly travel to different AUs.

And one day he had stumbled across a certain spot in Outertale, a spot that a certain error loved to stargaze at.

  
  


The destroyer didn't exactly like his job, Fate had to force him to do it with red strings that wrapped around his soul. These strings also left him in a state of insanity, only lifted when the strings were removed.

Fortunately, they had managed to get the strings off. Unfortunately, Error still had to do his job.

He was pretty lonely, and he didn't really want to hurt people.

So when he saw Fresh there, Fresh freaked out. Even though he didn't even know who- or _what_ Error was.

Fresh had tried to summon a portal, only to find that he was unable to.

He immediately freaked out when Error stepped forward- merely trying to calm him.

He protected his face with his hands and curled in on himself. His body shook with tremors as he cried.

"I'm sorry, please don't hurt me! I swear I'm not- I'm not what they say I am!" He had sobbed pleadingly.

Error had been confused, but managed to get Fresh to talk to him. 

After learning about his past, he took Fresh under his wing so to speak.

And after a while he introduced Fresh to them.

They all immediately saw Fresh as a younger brother and tried to help him in any way they could.

They gave him clothes, food, water, and they offered to let him stay in the hideout.

But Fresh refused to stay with them for long periods of time. He'd come to visit, but he'd rarely ever stay.

They all understood though. Fresh had been through a lot, and he had anxiety along with trust issues.

It was fine, they didn't mind waiting until he was ready.

And of course Nightmare couldn't help but think more of Error.

Back when he was fully under Fate's control, he had been truly terrifying to Nightmare.

His emotions had been numbed by Fate- to better use him as a puppet.

Error had been absolutely ruthless, if he decided to destroy a universe it almost always ended up being destroyed. With one exception- Underswap.

He had kidnapped a swap Sans- this specific Sans ended up being an important part of the board…

But when Blue survived that encounter, it encouraged Nightmare to look more into Error.

That was how he found out about Fate, and Destiny.

Fate and Destiny were deities who just loved to screw around with each other.

  
  


Fate had made Ink and Error their chosen ones, while Destiny had made Nightmare and Dream theirs.

It had been a huge fucking shock for Nightmare to hear that some god like entity was messing around with him.

But it kinda made sense, huh? Life had never given him a break, so it made sense that his mere existence was just some game to entertain someone else.

  
  


Anyway- leaving behind the pessimism (is that's possible), Nightmare had been able to free Error.

And when he got to know the real Error? He loved him immediately. Not romantically mind you! But in a familial sense. It was a shock to Nightmare, it had taken him a while to even feel something remotely positive towards Killer, maybe the corruption wasn't screwing with his emotions that much.

  
  


That was what got him upset, Killer.

  
  


Sure, it was upsetting for him to think about Error and Fresh- seeing as they had no idea where they were.

But thinking of Killer was even worse. 

Killer was on a mission that Nightmare had sent him on when the AUs got corrupted. 

Nightmare is using mission in the loosest terms possible mind you.

The whole gang was like a family. Nightmare saw them all as his boys, and they saw each other as brothers.

They did seem to think of Nightmare as some paternity figure- which was still kind of confusing since he wasn't exactly the best role model.

So Nightmare had sent Killer to look at a Bittytale, to see if they could all get a bitty.

Nightmare had been very hesitant about the idea at first, being responsible for a tiny monster just seemed stressful.

But after a while he decided that whatever, if it'll make his boys happy.

Killer had volunteered himself, Nightmare gave him permission to go.

Nightmare shouldn't have said yes- he should have said no. He should've been the one to go instead of Killer. He should've been the one to die- not one of his boys. **Never** one of his boys.

And- oh god. When Cross had heard that Killer was going out he wanted to go tpo.

He kept on insisting that he should go, that he'd be like Killer's bodyguard as he was looking for what they needed. And Nightmare almost said yes- god Nightmare almost let him die too!

But instead Nightmare sent him to go do a chore, wanting to keep the bitties a surprise.

God, Nightmare had almost let two of his boys die. And god he watched as one of his boys walked out that portal to his death. 

If only he had said no. If only he had told Killer to go the next day. He'd still be alive.

It was _his_ fault. Nightmare was supposed to be the guardian of _negative feelings._ What kind of crappy guardian was he if he couldn't even protect his gang?

God, he wished that he could Killer one last hug. See him one more time. Just hear his voice, or even just to simply feel his emotions.

  
  


That was how Nightmare ended up hunched over his desk, desperately trying not to cry. But he couldn't go and bother his boys about this, they had enough to deal with on their own.

_________

  
  


Cross was the next one to work himself up into a bad mood.

It was around 3 am when he woke up.

Cross had been quite traumatized after what happened in X!tale, and he often times got nightmares about the events that occurred. Even though the nightmares had been less frequent recently.

He quickly shot up.in bed, gasping for air as he clutched his chest. His vision blurred with tears as he shook, remembering the dream.

It had been a really sick and twisted version of what had gone down before his AU had been desecrated.

He quickly kicked the blankets off himself, hating the feeling of being tangled in them.

Gripping his legs against him as tight as he could he buried his face against his knees.

These past few months with Killer's death Cross had decided to take a medication from an AU, claimed to be able to help people get a proper rest without dreaming.

This had been the first dream he had, probably because he forgot to take the medicine. It freaked him out a lot.

Standing up he gripped his night stand to help steady him on his shaky legs. The long purple shirt he was wearing barely helped to hide how hard he was trembling.

He aggressively rubbed his eyes as if somehow that could stop him from crying.

As he slowly walked towards the door he stopped to look at himself in the mirror.

The light purple t-shirt he was wearing fell to just below his knees and was crumpled. 

He hated it so much.

X!Gaster had somehow made it so that his code would change the color of any article of clothing he wears. The only three colors he could wear were white, black, and you guessed it- purple. 

X!tale only had those three exact colors, so seeing that specific shade of purple just served to remind him of his former AU and that damn nightmare. Even though to be fair it's not like he would have been able to take his mind off of it even without the shirt.

Cross felt frustrated. He still felt deeply hurt by what happened, and upset with himself. He felt mad that he wasn't strong enough to stand up to X!Gaster, to stop him.

Cross decided that he was going to go train.

He went over to his closet and looked over the assortment of clothing he had.

He decided on wearing a pair of dark purple shorts, a white long sleeved shirt, and a black hoodie that he had received from Nightmare as a gift.

  
  
  
  


The halls were even colder than Cross anticipated they would be. He quickly hustled down the hall as he pulled the hoodie on tighter around himself. Rounding the corner to the training room he nearly sprinted, wanting to get it over as soon as possible.

Cross pushed open the large teak doors to see the comforting sight of the training room.

It was quite a large room.

To give some context, imagine a large rectangle. At the bottom of it, pressed as close to the right side as possible was the doors. On the wall opposite to the doors there were two large chalkboards, used to tally points back when they had their competitions- or tournaments as they liked to call them.

Against the left wall there were a couple of benches for the gang (and potential visitors) to sit down and watch. The right wall had an assortment of physical weapons for someone to use if they wanted to. There was also a cupboard full of healing supplies.

In the middle of the room there was a large mattress with a dummy on it. That was where they would train. 

Cross looked towards the weapons, deciding if he should take one or just sticking to his magic instead.

Using magic would tire him out more, hopefully allowing him to sleep after getting rid of that pent up energy.

Cross nodded his head slightly as he decided to use his magic.

He summoned his twin daggers as he approached the dummy. Hopping slightly on his feet he slashed at the dummy with the dagger in his right hand. A long tear was created across the middle of the dummy as he quickly stepped back and pretending to dodge an attack.

Cross ducked behind the dummy and quickly slashed at where a real person's legs would be. He teleported to the other side of the mattress and quickly summoned some bone attacks. Commanding the bones to hit the dummy by flinging his arm forward; Cross couldn't help but wince as he saw the dummys tears already patch themselves up.

He knew it was illogical to be upset about that. The dummy was magic and was made to be able to immediately repair itself after taking damage.

But in his half delirious state he took it differently.

_Failure._

_You didn't try hard enough._

_Of course, you can't even do this one thing right._

_What are you even trying for? You know you're going to fail anyway._

_Imagine how embarrassed the others would be of you._

_They probably wouldn't want to be associated with you anymore._

_They hate you._

_They don't care for you._

_Nightmare doesn't care for you, he never did. It's honestly sad that you believed he did._

_You failed your family!_

_Frisk, Toriel, Chara, Asgore, Muffett, Mettaton, Undyne, Alphys, Papyrus… they were all counting on you and you failed them!_

_Freak._

_You should've gone with Killer, you'd honestly be more useful if you just died. You could even just do it yourself, you know._

His thoughts whispered to him.

A wrenching scream escaped his throat and he jumped up, summoning a bunch at red knives and throwing them at the dummy.

He dashed forward and slashed at the dummy in an X shape, creating two large slashes across the dummy.

A groan of frustration left Cross as he continuously slashed and stabbed at the dummy. The tears blurring his vision barely even registered until they were prominent enough that he slipped up.

He aimed a slash towards the dummy but he ended up missing… and ended up with a huge gash in his left arm.

Cross cried out in pain and sank to his knees, dispelling all of his magic in the meantime.

His sobs only grew in volume as time went on and he couldn't see anything anymore. 

Black, his vision was completely black. He felt a little lightheaded and it was hard to breathe. He was completely freaked out and was barely aware of what was going on. 

Faintly he could feel himself curling up into a ball, but it was still a hard fact to process as he hyperventilated. There was a violent ringing in his (ears?) as he sobbed into his shorts.

  
  


Killer would have known how to deal with this.

Killer wouldn't have let his mental health get this bad.

Killer wouldn't have failed so badly.

Killer could have accomplished more.

He wanted Killer- god he wanted Killer so damn bad.

Why did Killer have to be the one to die? Why couldn't it have been him instead.

He wanted Killer.

He wanted Killer to come help him.

No- he wanted Nightmare.

He wanted the both of them, he needed someone to help him.

_________

  
  


Dust woke up and immediately groaned, rolling over on his stomach and trying to go back to sleep.

When it became clear to him that going back to sleep wasn't possible he sighed.

He blearily opened his eyes and stared at his pillow.

Even though he just woke up he felt completely drained of energy. His body felt heavy and he wanted nothing more than to just sink back into his bed, maybe he could even stop existing in the meantime.

He rolled back onto his back and sighed, already well aware of what the symptoms of depression were. 

He shut his eye sockets once again because of how heavy they felt. He just laid there for a while, feeling like absolute shit and doing nothing about it.

Dust opened his eye sockets (again) and looked around the room. He reached over to his nightstand (which was a much harder task to do than it should have been) and opened one of the drawers. 

Finding what he was looking for by touch alone, he pulled out an inconspicuous looking book.

Flipping open to the first page of the book he found himself staring at a picture of him and the rest of his family. 

Killer had taken the picture of them all, Dust had accidentally added the wrong chemical to the solution he was making. The result? A bunch of white foam that spread all throughout the room. It wasn't toxic, which was good. But Nightmare still hadn't been too pleased.

In the picture there was a sheepish looking dust holding an empty pitcher. Next to him was Nightmare with his arms crossed and the meanest dad glare he could pull off.

Closer to the camera were Cross and Horror. Cross had been caught mid laugh as he rubbed some of the foam onto Horrors hoodie.

Horrors mouth was open and the features of his skull were contorted into a disgusted expression as he leaned away from Cross, his left hand full of foam that he would rub all over Cross' skull just after the picture. Then Nightmare would get mad at the two of them for, 'not helping and behaving childishly'.

It was ironic that Killer was the one who took the photo, since that made it so that he couldn't be seen in the photo. There were only the alive gang members in the photo.

That was actually kinda funny.

…

  
  
  


… it wasn't?

  
  


Well Dust couldn't honestly tell, he couldn't really feel anything in the state that he was currently in. He felt numb.

The next picture was of him and Killer. Nightmare and Horror were the chefs of the house, that was well known. But it was Horrors birthday, so they tried to bake him a cake. It didn't end well.

  
  


In the picture Killer was holding a tray that was holding a weird black flaky substance, (spoiler, that was supposed to be the cake) and Dust was caught while fanning the air which was infiltrated with thick smoke.

  
  


As more and more time passed by Dust looked at more pictures, but none of them made him feel anything. If hed could feel, the numbness would probably make him feel uneasy. 

It almost felt wrong, looking at pictures of Killer but not grieving. He could vaguely tell that he was hungry, but he was too tired to do anything about it.

__________

Horror was caramalizing the onions for the onion pie when he felt it.

He was just stirring the onions in the pan when he looked over to the fridge. 

On the fridge there was a fridge magnet that Cross had made around a year ago. The magnet was pretty cute, it was a plain white magnet with all their names written on it.

Horrors name was written in bold yellow letters, beside his name was Dusts. His name was written in a thin grey pen that was running out of ink.

Nightmare's name was written in elegant black letters, a light purple border surrounding them. Cross' name was just written normally…. 

  
  


and there was Killer's name.

  
  


Killer's name was written in plain letters in red, but the name was surrounded by red bubble letters, probably to mimic his target soul.

Cross had made them the magnet along with a multitude of other stuff, it was really sweet.

  
  


Memories of Killer suddenly hit Horror hard. He could remember teaching Killer how to make this exact recipe…

  
  


Horror had zoned out and didn't realize that the onions were burning.

"Oh shit!" He hissed, quickly grabbing the handle to take the pan off the stove.

Unfortunately Horror had forgotten to wear oven gloves and burned himself on the hot handle.

" _God damn it!"_ He yelped, quickly cradling his hand to his chest.

He quickly ran cold water and put his hand under it.

Tearing up he quickly turned off the stove with his left hand.

As he left his hand under the cold water, he was reminded of the time Killer had burnt his hand.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Horror had just finished making a batch of brownie due to Cross' insistent pleading.

The brownie had been left to cool in the pan that he had just taken out of the oven.

  
  


"Hey Horror, what smells so good?" Killer asked as he entered the kitchen.

"Brownies for Cross." Horror snorted as he washed the dough covered pot.

"Pfft, does he know you're making them?" Killer asked as he leaned against the counter.

"He knows that I was planning on making brownies- he annoyed me into doing it, but he doesn't know when I planned on making them." He explained, attempting to scrub the stubborn dough off violently.

"Yeah, he'd probably be scarfing down the brownies already if he knew of them, consequences be damned." Killer chuckled as he re-adjusted the elbow he was leaning on.

That elbow ended up on the hot pan that was resting on the stove.

" _Holy fuck."_ Killer shrieked as he quickly jumped away, hitting his head on the open cabinet door.

"Are you ok!?" Horror exclaimed as he ran towards Killer. He just got a whimper in response.

He quickly grabbed Killer's uninjured elbow and pulled him towards the sink. He guided Killer's left elbow to the cold water and ran to grab an ice pack.

Horror placed the ice pack on the back of Killers head and quickly hugged him, rubbing the older's arm.

"Hey, it's ok Killer, it's ok." He shushed as he continued to calm down the other skeleton.

"Heh, thanks." Killer thanked him.

  
  


Horror was now crying at the memory of his deceased brother.

  
  
  


_________

  
  
  


He gasped for breath, trying desperately to breathe properly. He could barely feel the tears running down his face, the way his hands clawed into his legs, the way his arm hurt. He could barely hear someone call out his name.

  
  
  


"...... Cross…..!"

_Who, who was that?_

Cross couldn't tell, and a part of him didn't care as he choked on a sob.

There was a hand on his shoulder all of a sudden and he violently flinched away.

He felt a finger tap his hand in a familiar pattern.

Cross tried to breathe and focus on the finger, but found it difficult.

After a while of trying to breathe, he finally managed to breathe in time to the rhythm.

Breathe in for four seconds, hold for seven, breathe out for eight. After a while of breathing like that, Cross opened his eye sockets.

He saw Nightmare crouching down in front of him, looking at him concerned.

Cross immediately sobbed and flung himself into Nightmare's arms.

Nightmare shushed him as he sat down, pulling Cross on his lap.

As Cross sobbed in his chest Nightmare soothingly rubbed his back, humming a lullaby that he used to sing to Dream.

  
  


Cross calmed down and pulled away, rubbing the tears from his eye sockets.

"S-sorry dad." He choked out, and Nightmare immediately corrected him.

"Hey there, it's ok. You have nothing to apologize for." Nightmare soothed his youngest.

Cross just nodded limply in response.

"I'm going to pick you up and quickly patch up that wound of yours, is that ok?" Nightmare asked Cross, still rubbing circles on his back. 

"Yeah." Cross mumbled as he buried his face in Nightmare's chest again.

Nightmare quickly scooped Cross into his arms and walked towards the healing station. Cross clung onto Nightmare like a koala, and Nightmare found himself once again grateful for the extra strength and height the corruption provided him with.

He opened the cupboard and used one of his tentacles to grab a jar of healing gel.

Gently grabbing Cross' arm with his right hand, he used another tentacle to gently apply the healing gel.

The laceration on Cross' arm patched up and he smiled gently at the young skeleton.

"So, want to tell me why you were training at 3:55 in the morning?" Nightmare asked.

"I- um. I had a really bad dream." Cross explained awkwardly. Nightmare used a tentacle to gently rub Cross' neck as he asked:

"Do you want to talk about it?" Cross shook his head.

"Do you think you can go back to sleep?" Nightmare asked, and Cross just shrugged.

  
  


Nightmare could tell that Cross wanted to ask him something, but was too anxious to ask.

"Cross, is there something you want to ask me?" Nightmare prompted.

"U-um well. I- kinda?" Cross nervously replied.

"It's ok, you can tell me. I promise I won't get upset, or laugh. Just tell me what you need." Nightmare whispered as another tentacle rose up to soothingly rub Cross' arm.

"Well, I was wondering, _coulipleasesleepwithyou?"_ Cross blurted out, wincing slightly.

"Sorry, sorry! I know that you're probably busy, or want some time to yourself. But staying with you is just so comforting, and I don't think I'll be able to fall back asleep otherwise, even though I really want to. And I'm sorry I know this must be so bothersome for you and-"

" _Cross._ " Nightmare firmly interrupted his anxious rambling.

"It's ok, if you want me to stay with you I will." 

"You will?" Cross asked hopefully, finally looking at Nightmare.

"Yes, I will." Nightmare smiled at Cross.

"Thanks dad!" He said excitedly, nuzzling into Nightmare's chest. 

  
  
  


Nightmare hugged Cross close as he walked down the halls to his room. He felt a twinge of anger at X!Gaster for the state of his boy.

What X!Gaster had done affected Cross deeply.

It left him

-traumatized

-made him develop social anxiety, separation anxiety, and just general heightened anxiety in general.

-depressed

-he had deep rooted trust issues

-Cross had been touch starved for quite a long time

-desperate for validation

-self-esteem issues.

And the list goes on and on. X!Gaster had been Cross' father figure for so many years, but he failed him. 

Because of what he did to Cross, Cross still had a few issues trusting Nightmare. As Nightmare was his new parental figure, and his old one was a piece of absolute shit.

But Nightmare would do whatever he could to help his boy recover.

  
  
  


Nightmare gently pushed the door to his room open. He carried Cross over to the bed and gently set him down. He used a tentacle to shut the door as he got in bed next to Cross.

Cross cuddled into him as he gently rubbed the top of his skull.

"Go to sleep Cross, I'll be here to protect you from any bad dreams." Nightmare gently instructed his boy.

"Ok, thanks dad, love you." Cross yawned as he curled into Nightmare more.

  
  


Maybe if Cross wasn't so tired we would've heard that Nightmare ssid it back to him for the first time.

  
  


__________

  
  
  
  


Dust looked up as he heard a knock on his door. Nightmare peaked his head in, and Dust heard himself give a slight grunt of acknowledgement.

Nightmare walked over to him, and Dust could see him eyeing the book. He gently sighed and took the book away from Dust. Dust probably would've argued with him about it if he wasn't so exhausted.

"Are you hungry, did you eat?" Nightmare asked Dust softly.

Dust couldn't even find the energy to acknowledge his question.

"I'm going to assume that's a yes." Nightmare answered for Dust.

"Come on, you need to eat." Nightmare told Dust. 

Hw picked Dust up, using his tentacles to wrap Dust up in a sort of cocoon.

_This is kinda nice._ Dust thought as he laid limp in the makeshift cocoon.

He saw that they were out in the hall, but yet again he couldn't find it within himself to care. Closing his eyes he snuggled up more to the tentacles, he let the gentle swaying of Nightmare's footsteps lull him into a calmer state.

  
  
  
  


Nightmare walked in the living room with Dust to see Horror and Cross playing a game.

  
  


Horror saw him and gave a wave of acknowledgement, then he saw Dust and froze.

"Is Dust ok?" He asked. Cross whipped his head around to look at them too.

"Yeah, is he ok?" Cross echoed Horror.

"He's fine, he's just not feeling too well." Nightmare replied.

Cross and Horror both nodded, all of them knew of Dust's depressive episodes.

"Is there any food left that I could give him?" Nightmare asked the other two.

"No, sorry." Horror winced.

"It's ok, I'll just make his something new to eat." Nightmare sighed.

He carried Dust to the dining room and gently set him down on a chair.

"Dust? What do you want to eat?" He asked the other. Dust merely shrugged.

"Ok, I'll make you french toast, how's that sound?" Nightmare asked the other. He got another shrug in response.

Nightmare sighed, if the french toast couldn't get Dust to react then they'd be in trouble.

Dust absolutely _adored_ french toast, french toast to him was like what chocolate was to Cross.

Nightmare grabbed the carton of eggs from the fridge and quick cracked around 4 of them in a bowl. As he beat the eggs he couldn't help but worry about his boys. First Cross had problems with his nightmare and panic attack, now Dust with a really bad depressive episode.

At least Horror was doing ok.

He grabbed out a bag of bread and prepared a pan, letting his mind wander off a bit.

When the french toast was done he brought it out to Dust.

  
  


He even brought some of his favorite toppings, like strawberries and blueberries, the super expensive maple syrup that he liked for some reason, and powdered sugar.

Dust had close to no reaction.

Nightmare sighed and fed Dust the food himself.

  
  
  


When all the French toast was gone, (Nightmare had to eat some himself because Dust refused to eat after a bit) Dust was a tiny bit more responsive, which was good! But… it still wasn't normal.

Nightmare picked him up and brought him over to the couch in the living room.

Horror and Cross were now just talking, Horror animatedly moving his arms as he talked about something.

"Hey guys, so who won the Uno game?" Nightmare asked. 

"I did." Cross snickered, and Horror pouted.

"You cheated!" He declared and Cross shook his head.

"Using a strategy and actually being smart about what you do isn't cheating, Horror." Cross jabbed.

Horror crossed (heh) his arms over his chest as his pout grew.

"Could one of you pick out a movie to watch?" Nightmare asked the two skeletons who were now glaring at each other.

He quickly titled his head towards Dust- who was still majorly unresponsive, to show his reasoning behind the choice.

"Ok ok! Let me pick a movie!" Cross exclaimed, quickly running to the TV stand to pick a movie.

Nightmare and Horror quickly wrapped Dust in a soft blanket they had nearby for situations like this, then Cross came back with the movie.

"Sixth sense?" Nightmare asked, quirking a brow bone.

"Yup, I've been wanting to watch it for a while!" _And it might help get a response out of Dust-_ went unsaid.

  
  


"Alright then, go and put it in." Nightmare said to Cross, who then cheered.

Horror cuddled up to Dust, who was sitting in his blanket burrito in Nightmare's lap. Cross came back from putting the movie on and quickly cuddled up to Dust on Nightmare's left side.

  
  
  
  


Near the end of the movie they all heard a sniffle from Dust. They all looked to him and saw that he was crying slightly, even though he was trying to stop the tears.

"It's ok Dust, we're here, you can cry with us." Cross assured, hugging Dust.

"Yeah, we're not going to judge. We're your family, Dust." Horror assured, nuzzling into Dust's right shoulder.

"Go on, let your feelings out." Nightmare soothed, gently planting a kiss to the tip of Dust's skull.

"S-sorry." He sniffled.

"It's ok, there's nothing to be sorry for." They all instantly reassured him.

  
  
  
  
  
  


After Sixth Sense was over, they played a couple more movies to help Dust feel better.

At around the third movie Horror got up.

"I'm gonna go make us something to eat." He declared, walking towards the kitchen.

  
  
  
  


_____________

  
  
  


"Horror?" Nightmare asked adn Horror snapped his head in his direction.

Horror looked like a mess, his eye lights were wavy and extremely small, one of his hands currently occupying a olace beneath the kitchen tap.

"Are you ok?" Nightmare asked, walking forward to go and helo him out.

"I don't- I don't know." Horror whispered.

  
  


"It's ok, let me help you." Nightmare soothed as he grabbed an ice pack for Horror.

He grabbed his hand and put the ice pack on top of it.

"What were you trying to make?" Nightmare asked.

"Onion pie." Horror responded.

"How about I finish making that for you?" Nightmare offered.

Horror nodded his head.

  
  
  
  


When Nightmare came back with the ready made onion pies, he smiled at the sight of his 3 boys cuddled up on the couch together. Titanic was left forgotten as they slept.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_________

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Nightmare tried his best to stiffle his sobs- not wanting to even risk waking up one of the others.

  
  


He thought of Killer again and a new wave of grief washed over him.

He wanted nothing more than to hold his boys in that very moment, to hold Fresh and Error as well and relish in the fact that they're all safe.

But he couldn't wake them up.

  
  


Nightmare felt really silly for the childish wave of disappointment he felt wash over him when nobody came to help him.

It was dumb, they shouldn't have to deal with his feelings anyway.

  
  


He was going to finally resume his paperwork when he felt panic from somewhere in the training room.

  
  


Instantly he forgot about how he was feeling, one of his boys were suffering.

He had to help them, regardless of how he was feeling.

  
  


He walked to the training room determined, his boys feelings would always be more important than his.

  
  


Always.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's kinda funny, because I've been wanting to write a fan fic for a while, but I always assumed that I wouldn't actually be able to do it.
> 
> I have problems motivating myself and I am a tad bit of a perfectionist, so I end up not liking my work oftentimes. And I have problems a lot of the time writing multiple chapters of anything.
> 
> But look at me! This is like the (fifth?) chapter I've written abd posted in the span of five days! I wonder for how long I can keep the daily upload spiel going.
> 
> As always, if you see a mistake, give me your best roast over it down in the comments below. Please, I need a good laugh. (Also I didn't really read over this chapter because it's the longest one so far.)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone gets into a lot of trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: omg haha I wonder for how long I can keep up the daily uploads?!
> 
> Also me: I've lost all my motivation to write.
> 
> Edit: What tf was I expecting honestly?
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER
> 
> -There is an attempted kidnapping
> 
> -There is a description of a panic attack
> 
> -There is violence
> 
> God why did it take me so long to think of putting these trigger warnings? If any of the above warnings sound like it wont be ok for you, this fic certainly isn't for you.

Ink hadn't been making any AUs these past few months, which was good! Because there weren't any new AUs being made they didn't have to destroy any universes, which was amazing.

None of them ever liked destroying universes. It made them feel immensely guilty.

  
  


In the past the majority of them had killed, (except for Cross, he had no EXP) but they did it out of desperation, in situations where they practically had no choice. They didn't actually like killing, so it was nice that they got put in another situation where they would be forced to kill, huh?

  
  
  


They always had a certain routine for when they had to destroy some AUs along with Error.

  
  


Let's make the numbers smaller to better explain this, shall we?

  
  


Let's say there were only 5 different universes: Undertale, Underswap, Underfell, Swapfell, and Altertale.

Undertale has 14 copies.

Underswap has 11 copies.

Underfell has 17 copies.

Swapfell has 8 copies.

And Altertale has 10 copies.

Error would normally go for the AU with the most copies.

In this scenario he'd probably get rid of 7 Underfell copies.

Then they would go for the AU with the second most copies.

So they would probably destroy as close to the amount of Undertale copies thay Error destroyed, just so that they destroyed the same amount as Error.

  
  


Ink that very same day probably would have made 30 copies (this is because we're making the numbers infinitesimally small compared to the actual amount of AUs.)

Yeah, Ink made a  _ lot  _ of AUs.

  
  


But what was the problem if he stopped making AUs?

  
  
  
  


That wasn't a problem per say, the problem came when he started making AUs again.

  
  


Which led to the situation they were stuck in now.

  
  
  
  
  


"Which AUs should we go after, boss?" Horror asked Nightmare.

  
  


"I'm not sure." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

  
  
  


"It seems that Undertale has the most copies." Cross informed the others. "Should we just destroy a bunch of them?" He asked the gang.

  
  


"How many copies are there?" Nightmare asked Cross.

  
  


"One thousand four hundred and thirty five copies as of now." Cross responded.

  
  


"Alright then, how many copies do we go for?" Dust asked while playing with the tip of his knife.

"I don't know, in this situation Error'd probably go for about 50 or so copies, but we aren't as adept at destroying AUs as he is." Horror explained.

  
  


"If only Time!tale survived the collapse." Nightmare groaned. "Sci was so damn close to finishing the device that could help us destroy AUs easier." Nightmare's tentacles waved around in annoyance.

  
  


At first Sci was helping the board out on ways to stop Error, but when Nightmare found out about Error being under Fate's control; Sci had been the one to help.

  
  


Nightmare still didn't know how. Sci was a genius.

So when they found out about the balance, Sci offered to build them a device that would help mess with the code of an AU, destroying it easier.

  
  


But now that he was gone they had no choice but to do it the hard way.

  
  


"How many copies do you think we'll be able to destroy?" Cross asked.

"I dunno, maybe 30?" Dust supplied.

  
  


"If we're lucky." Nightmare stressed.

They all nodded their head at Nightmare's words.

"Um, are you guys gonna need me to, um." Cross wrung his hands together nervously. "Kill?" He asked so quietly that it was merely a whisper.

The room instantly burst out into a chorus of,

" _ Of course not" _

And

_ "No we would never make you do that!" _

Cross smiled, looking reassured.

"We're just going to need you to manipulate the code of Snowdin again. That's it." Nightmare calmed Cross.

When it came to destroying AUs, Cross was the most valued from the gang.

Due to a defect in his code from when X!Gaster coded him, Cross was able to use a weapon of his to manipulate code.

He could use it to kinda copy and paste locations, to manipulate monsters code into doing his bidding, he could use to to travel to a different AU, and he could use it to tear up code.

But that could sometimes take a while, especially when the three musketeers came.

Didn't Blue, Ink, and Dream see the damage they're doing?

Obviously not, since they still did it.

  
  


"We should go as soon as possible." Nightmare declared. "Go on and grab full hp food. I want all of your inventories to be filled with full hp items. Am I understood?" He  gave them a condescending dad look glared at them."

They all agreed.

"And as much as I hate to say this, we need a buddy system." Nightmare sighed.

"A- a  _ buddy system!?" _ Dust snickered.

"Yes, Dust. A buddy system." Nightmare grit out through his teeth. 

"Horror, you will stick by Cross and help defend him when someone tries to attack him. Dust, you'll stay with me and we'll distract the monsters living in the AUs so Cross has less interruptions." Nightmare commanded.

  
  
  
  
  
  


_________

  
  
  
  


They had destroyed 14 Undertale copies before the dumbass trio arrived.

Cross had hidden with Horror behind the Grillbys so that he could rip through the code in peace, and Nightmare along with Dust were making a scene in front of the Skelebros house.

  
  
  


Nightmare was fighting more than usual, since the Undertale universes always hit Dust really close to home.

  
  


The Papyrus from this specific timeline had actually refused to fight Dust, and instead came up to him to ask if he was ok because a villager got a hit in on him.

Nightmare had to quickly pull him away from that situation before things got more out of control.

  
  


The Sans and Papyrus here had been dusted by Nightmare promptly after that, so thag Dust didn't have as many problems. Dust was fighting Dogamy and Dogaressa just fine after Nightmare took care of the two of them.

Nightmare was currently facing off against Undyne, who  _ really _ wasn't happy with him

Since his soul wasn't your typical soul, her green magic didn't work on it. And even then, she couldn't get close enough to him to initiate the soul attack.

"Face me like a normal person, punk!" Undyne yelled at him from a distance as she was dodging his tentacles.

  
  


"No thanks. I think I like the view over here better." Nightmare drawled, knocking over the furious fish with a tentacle from behind.

"NGAHHHH!!" Came the roar from Undyne as a spear suddenly shot up from the ground.

Nightmare dodged last second, leaving Undyne to stare at him in wonder, and curious, and… hope?

Why was she-? Oh, she was staring  _ behind  _ him.

He felt Dream's aura just before he fired the first arrow.

He quickly stepped to the side to dodge the 5 arrows Dream had sent his way.

"Brother, how nice of you to finally join us." He deadpanned, while shattering Undyne's soul, realizing that him and Dust would have their hands full with the three guardians.

  
  


Dream angrily readied more arrows as Ink jumped up.

"You don't have the right to even look at Dream anymore!" He yelled, as he pulled back his arm to use broomy to slash paint at Nightmare.

Nightmare just rolled his eyes at Ink's words.

He quickly turned into a shadow and darted towards the entrance of Waterfall, to try to lead the three of them away from his boys.

They took the bait. Dream fired three arrows as him in rapid succession, turning his back on Dust. Ink also took the bait, creating spears out of Ink and firing those at him.

  
  


Nightmare easily avoided all of the attacks, firing back with a bunch of his tentacles.

"Come on Brother, you don't have to do this!" Dream called out.

"Yeah!" Ink agreed, using broomie to block one of Nightmare's tentacles.

"You already destroyed  _ millions  _ of AUs along with Error in the span of  _ one day!  _ Ink cried out in desperation.

Nightmare froze. At first all he could feel was blinding red anger. They had lost so many AUs, and allys, hell they had even lost  _ Error Fresh and Killer!  _

All because Ink couldn't keep himself in god damn check! And they wanted to blame it on him instead of taking accountability!?

Then it all just felt hilarious.

Him and his boys have done nothing but try and protect the multiverse, they had been trying their best to prevent that whole incident from happening, and now the blame falls on them?

Nightmare felt laugher bubble up in his chest, and before he could prevent it from happening he was laughing.

It must've been weird for everyone else, to see the guardian of negativity, a feared figure everywhere laughing, but here they were.

Nightmare was laughing so hard that he was crying. He was hunched over as he clutched his lower ribcage to try and control his breathing. His tentacles were waving sporadically behind him as if they were laughing too.

"W-wait. Holy shit- holy fucking shit. You think  _ we  _ destroyed all those AUs?" He asked through his laughter.

Of course he knew that's what they thought, he saw the news report after all, but they didn't know that he saw it. Besides, a part of him thought they were just trying to make people feel better by 'knowing who did it'.

Ink, Dream, and Blue were watching him in shock. 

"Oh my god, you are so damn naïve." He chuckled darkly, and quickly wrapped a tentacle around Ink's ankle.

Ink realized a second too late what was happening as he got thrown into a nearby tree.

And just like that they were fighting again, only this time Dust came to help.

As the fight went on Nightmare had noticed something strange, something was off with Blue.

While Dream and Ink were fighting, both of them seemed very determined, giving it their all. 

But Blue just looked lost. He barely fired a single attack at Dust- who was mercilessly attacking him.

They had ended up fighting back in front of the skelebros house again as they heard the shout from Horror.

"Boss, we did it! Let's get out of here!"

Horror yelled, running towards them with an axe in hand. Cross followed him with his twin daggers in hand.

  
  


Nightmare and Dust quickly sent out a series of attacks as Horror created a portal to a nearby AU.

Cross was the closest to the Star Sans', fighting them off the best he could, and Dust was right behind him offering support.

They could see the AU crumbling around them as they all rushed to the portal.

Nightmare was trying to get Dust through the portal as pieces of code fell to the ground along with snow, when he felt it.

All of a sudden from behind him, he felt an intense negative emotion. _Panic._

  
  


"What the-! Hey, let go of me! NIGHTMARE!" He could hear Cross' desperate cries.

Nightmare quickly turned around and saw a sight that shocked him to his core.

Ink had somehow managed to attack Cross in the 5 fucking seconds that he turned away. Cross had his arms pinned to sides and his legs tied together by blue chains.

His weapons had been tossed to the side and he was struggling as Ink, Ink was dragging him towards a portal they had summoned in front of the bridge.

  
  


Nightmare's soul dropped to his metaphorical stomach.

  
  
  


_ Ink, Ink was trying to kidnap Cross, one of his boys right in front of his eyes. _

  
  


_ Cross, Cross was panicking, he was on the verge of a panic attack. _

_ He was crying as he tried to fight back. _

_ Dust and Horror were shouting something behind him but Nightmare couldn't tell what they were saying. _

_ His hearing was muffled as if he were underwater. _

_ He wanted to move, he wanted to save Cross, to help him. _

_ He couldn't move. _

_ Why couldn't he move!? _

_ Ink was getting closer and closer to the portal. _

_ And his brother, Dream? _

**_His brother was helping the creator kidnap his boy._ **

  
  


Nightmare was about to move- to do something. But someone else beat him to the chase.

  
  


The back of Inks skull was hit by a bone attack so hard that Nightmare could hear his skull shatter from where he was standing.

Dream had to quickly drop Cross as well, and he dove to the side to avoid being impaled by the sharp bones.

**_"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"_ ** Came the furious screech from….. 

  
  
  
  


Blue?

  
  
  


Blue was standing off to the side looking furious.

His eye lights were reduced to mere prin pricks and he was on the verge of tears.

Nightmare could vaguely sense Dust and Horror rushing to go collect Cross.

Blue was  _ pissed.  _ It was honestly a wonder that Nightmare hadn't felt his anger before. It hit him like a fucking truck and he had to take a couple of steps back when he first felt it.

He was the  _ guardian of negativity _ and he had  _ never  _ felt this level of anger before.

  
  


Blue had summoned his hammer in the midst of his fury and was holding it in a battle stance, looking like he seriously wanted to bash their skulls in.

Dust and Horror were quickly running towards him with a struggling Cross in their arms.

Ink and Dream were so caught off guard by Blue's anger that they hadn't even noticed that they were carrying Cross away. Ink's paint chains had even melted off of Cross.

Nightmare finally came to his senses and rushed through the portal to Littletale with his boys, leaving behind a backtrack of Blue's screaming.

~~~

When they crossed the portal they quickly made another one directly to their hideout, who gives a damn if any of the kids saw it?

~~~

They quickly ran through to their hide out and put Cross down on the couch.

He was having the worst anxiety attack Nightmare had ever seen the youngest have, it was even worse than the one he had in the training room 4 months prior.

His screeching filled the entire hideout as he sobbed and his hands dug into his arms. Cross didn't even notice the marrow soaking his clothes as he continued to rock and sob.

They tried calling out to him, but he didn't seem to hear them.

And every time they touched him his screeching would get that much louder.

And what made it worse? He was calling out for  _ him. _

Cross kept on calling out for Killer to help him.

That just broke Nightmare's soul even more.

He quickly wrapped Cross in a hug and wrapped all his tentacles around him, making a soothing cocoon.

Cross just cried and cried, and eventually started hitting Nightmare, all the while crying out for Killer to help him.

  
  


Nightmare failed once again. If it wasn't for Blue, Cross would have been kidnapped.

Just because Nightmare was a coward and froze up.

What kind of leader was Nightmare if he couldn't protect his boys at all?

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a quick thing I want to make clear.
> 
> 1\. Underverse never happened here, and the events of X!Tale went down differently than in Jakei's version.
> 
> 2\. Cross has Anxiety and PTSD, so does Blue actually.
> 
> Anyway, roast me in the comments if you see a mistake.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We flash back to when the AUs first collapsed to see another person's point of view.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know what happened at the end of last chapter may have seemed sudden and unexpected, which to be fair was supposed to be!
> 
> From all the main points of view we had seen up until that point, not a single person had known about it.
> 
> But how about we look at things from the point of views of who knew it was going to happen?
> 
> Edit:
> 
> TW
> 
> -Mentions of death

(A couple of months ago.)

  
  


"So how've things been recently?" Ink asked Dream, lounging back in his desk chair.

"They have actually been going pretty well." Dream replied with a smile.

"Oh really? Do tell." Ink crumpled up a wad of paper and threw it across the room.

It went in the trash can! Who's got the best aim ever!? This guy!

"The balance has been tipping much more towards the positive side of things recently." Dream hummed with a smile.

"And there have been less reports of the Dark Sans', so that's good!" Dream exclaimed with a huge grin on his face.

Ink couldn't help but feel bad for the other. Dream couldn't actually feel that since Ink was guarding his emotions. (A trick that Dream had taught him.)

Dream had so much hope that some part of Nightmare was still redeemable, Ink understood why he chose to remain optimistic!

Well, only to a certain degree.

  
  


He understood why you'd wanna believe that someone you cared so much for can change, but at the same time Dream was only setting himself up for heartbreak.

"Anything else?" Ink asked Dream with a grin.

"Well, I've been spending more time with Outer and his brother, it's so interesting to learn more about the constellations and the stories behind them!" Dream giggled.

Ink couldn't help but gently smile at the happiness written all over his friend's face.

They exchanged pleasant conversation as the time passed by, and Ink felt this weird feeling in his chest, kinda like the pain of a universe being destroyed? But dulled down.

It wasn't anything he recognized, so he just ignored it. (Please _don't_ do what Ink did if you're in a position where you feel sudden chest pain.)

Until someone burst into his office.

Blue, who seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack.

"Ink, have you seen how _many_ AUs are being destroyed?!" He cried through his laboured breathing.

"What?!" Ink cried out, immediately jumping out from his seat.

Dream followed close behind. 

"Goodness, I don't even know how many have been desecrated at this point!" He bellowed.

  
  


Ink quickly created a portal to the doodle sphere, and as the three guardians walked through they were met with a terrifying sight.

AUs were dying as an impossibly fast rate. At least 100 AUs would all be dying at the same time before a couple hundred more joined in.

Ink watched in horror as paint bucket after paint bucket got emptied and another one of his creations were gone.

What- what was happening?

  
  
  


During the meeting with Dream and Blue he couldn't think straight. He knew that it _had_ to be the Dark Sans' alongsides Error, and maybe even Fresh, he just didn't know how they did it. 

It didn't matter how in the end, just that they _did._ That has to end.

Ink came up with an idea, it may be a bit hard to execute, but it would surely be worth it.

"Meetings over." He ordered as he rushed out of the room. He ran down to the second floor.

  
  


The second floor was the 'most serious floor'. On the second floor was where the board held the meetings that consisted of all of them. It was also where they kept all their information about the Dark Sans' alongside the Destroyer and Fresh.

It kept a book of all that they did wrong, what they know of their background, all the AUs they've ever been sighted in, which AUs they seem to frequent the most often.

Ink looked over all the information and knew what he had to do. The one problem? There was absolutely zero chance of Blue being ok with this idea.

"Ink? Are you ok?" A voice asked from behind him.

Ink whirled around to see Dream standing there, looking concerned.

"Yeah, I am. Dream, listen." Ink started.

"I have a plan to stop the Dark Sans', it's just that you can't tell Blue, alright?" Ink put it out there.

"Why don't you want us to tell Blue?" Dream asked, suspicious of the others intentions.

"You'll see, just- trust me?" Ink pleaded.

Dream nodded.

"Want to talk about it in my room for some privacy?" Dream asked, extending a hand towards the area of the stairs.

"Yeah, sure." Ink nodded, and they were on their way.

The third floor was the most personal floor, only consisting of three rooms.

Dream's bedroom, where he slept. Since Dream didn't have an AU of his own he had to stay in The AUs Collaboration In Order To Maintain Peace And Prosperity building.

There was also a bedroom for Blue, for when he wanted to get away from his AU and stay with them instead. Even though it was now his permanent room since his AU was destroyed…

  
  


And there was Ink's office. Office, not bedroom. Ink lived in the doodle sphere, refusing to stay away from his creations for too long. 

  
  


The building was situated in the first Undertale copy Ink had ever made. Since it was his first time making a copy there were complications, and he was left with a blank slate of an AU.

He left it alone for a while, but after the Destroyer first made his presence known, and the board was at the beginning of being assembled; Ink decided to revamp the AU.

The two friends entered Dreams bedroom, and Dream looked expectantly at him.

"So, what's the plan?" Dream asked Ink.

"This- this is going to sound crazy, I know! But just hear me out on this one, please." Ink begged his friend.

"Ink, just tell me." Dream sighed. 

"I think we should take away Cross, Killer, Dust, and Horror from Nightmare." Ink explained to Dream, who looked horrified.

"You want us to _kidnap them!?_ How! And why!?" Dream exclaimed as his eye lights shrunk in shock, and possibly anger.

"Listen, Dream. I know that you want to still believe that there's still some good in your brother." Dream glared at Ink.

"But we need to do something, too many universes have died. And, I have a feeling that the four of them are being forced to destroy universes by him." Ink explained, and Dream looked confused.

"Why do you think that they are being forced by Nightmare?" Dream asked him.

"Let's look at them one by one." Ink started.

"Cross: I decided to check his stats one day when we were fighting and I saw something interesting. He has no EXP, and his LV is one. Why would someone who refuses to kill willingly destroy universes, causing billions to die in the process." Ink proposed.

"Dust: I'm sure you've noticed too that he always looks upset when they are destroying a universe, especially an Undertale one." He pointed out.

"Horror: It doesn't make sense, looking at his past behavior. In the past he built traps with his Papyrus to kill humans because they were starving. He only killed humans because he _needed_ to, he had no other choice. So why would he willingly destroy an AU? Because that sure as hell isn't necessary." Dream started looking more on board with the plan by this point.

"And Killer. I looked at his timeline for information on what caused him to start killing. He was _forced_ to, Dream. He doesn't necessarily want to kill, but he's been forced to kill in the past. Who says that the same thing isn't happening now?" Dream looked much more convinced now, but still a little hesitant.

"Alright, but when? And how? And what will we do with them?" Dream asked.

  
  


"I'm not so sure about that yet, but we can work out the specifics of that later." Ink replied. Dream nodded.

"I see why you don't want Blue to know about this." Dream awkwardly chuckled.

Blue had been kidnapped by Error before he had met the two of them, and it left him with a tiny bit of PTSD.

He absolutely hated kidnapping in general, anyone who even dared to say the word in front of him would be getting lectured by him. He would absolutely _detest_ their plan.

  
  


____________

When Ink got back to the doodle sphere he winced at the sight of all the dead AUs. But he felt more determined when it came to his plan, he had to stop this from happening again.

Who cares if it was terrible? Who cares if it was something that would normally seem morally corrupt?

He was saving people! That was all that mattered.

  
  
  


When he got in his home he immediately went to his bedroom. He changed his clothes and plopped on his bed.

He kept on thinking of the plan in his head and revising part of it. Perfection, that was what he needed. 

But as he thought and thought the anger that had previously been there started changing. He felt less and less mad and more… sad.

He was grieving. He had lost so much, and they had lost board members and friends. It was his job to protect the AUs, and he failed. He was terrible, and he should be ashamed of himself.

Ink felt a strange tightening in his chest, kind of like before when all the AUs were dying, but different.

  
  


The grief quickly turned to anger as he ran outside to see which AUs were being killed. He was going to kill the Dark Sans', his plan completely forgotten. But he paused when he saw that there were no universes dying.

He looked around everywhere, and not a single one was suffering.

Then what…?

Ink pulled out his soul and stared in shock.

Ink's soul was different then most monsters. For starters, it was human shaped and _not_ monster shaped. But it was translucent, not being as strong as most monster souls.

Because it was so weak he barely had any emotions of his own, the majority of his emotions came from his vials. Even though they were much more real than if he were say, soulless. The mix of emotions coming from his soul and from the vials let him feel the whole spectrum of emotions thank god.

There was one last thing about his soul however….

  
  
  


And it was that there was a red string tied loosely around it. Nobody else had this from what he could tell.

But this time something was different. The normally loose string was tied tightly around his soul. His soul actually showed some physical strain where it was tied up by the string.

Seeing this just made Ink feel much more angry than before.

And he knew who he wanted to take it out on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, I need a timeline for all the chapters. The previous chapter was supposed to be around 8 months after the AUs collapsed. 
> 
> And this one is from Inks point of view that day of/after the collapse.
> 
> Roast me if you see a typo!
> 
> Edit: Yeah having a timeline helps so much like damn. If you need me to explain any of this confusing shit in the comments, go ahead and ask! I certainly don't mind.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see who Ink takes his anger out on. We also learn a bit more information about some characters relationships with one-another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it weird to be excited about your own fic? Because I'm so excited about the direction I plan on taking this that I had to write this chapter today lmao.
> 
> I'm really curious, where do you think I'm taking this story? I'd love to read any theories in the comments!
> 
> Edit: It's so fun to see how clueless I was.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING
> 
> This chapter contains:
> 
> -Mentions of emotional abuse
> 
> -Ableism
> 
> -The use of the R slur against someone with a mental disability

Ink was plotting with Dream nearly non-stop about how exactly they're going to save the four skeleton's since Ink brought that up.

They had an idea, but weren't sure on how well it was going to work.

The plan was to start narrowing down places that they could go, so that they could kinda trap them into going into a specific AU.

They would slowly start cutting off AUs that they got supplies from from their access, and when they cut off all of those AUs Ink would make the _perfect_ AU.

The AU would be a pretty negative one, so that it could lure Nightmare in, along with the rest of them. It would also be perfect for getting supplies, and better yet? It wouldn't be a copy, yet an original AU.

For some strange reason the Dark Sans' seemed to prefer original AUs rather than copies. When they destroyed AUs they almost always went for copies, that changed around a month prior, but still.

It was weird, actually. The Dark Sans' haven't destroyed any AUs since. They only trashed around 2 AUs, but they didn't actually destroy it. Ink did even know they were there until the residents of the AU complained at the All Inclusive Help Center.

Ink unfortunately had to stop creating AUs for some unknown amount of time, so that he could deal with the damage left behind.

He was still kind of mad, seeing that a couple of the board members died in the purge.

  
  


Now that Ink thought about it, there was one more useful thing about narrowing down the accessibility of the AUs for the Dark Sans'. And that was Blue.

Ink found himself quite stressed knowing that they had to hide this from Blue, not liking to hide things from the other. 

But this way Ink could tell a bit of a half lie. Saying that the plan has something to do with that, but not actually telling him what the plan was. It was genius!

Even though the downside is that it would take at least a year for the plan to be fully finished, they didn't want the Dark Sans' to be suspicious of something being wrong.

  
  
  
  
  


But he was never the best when it came to anger management. 

At first he planned to make the Dark Sans' suffer.

Ink wouldn't lie, he spent quite a bit of time searching for any of them as a means to let out his anger. Especially since his plan was just 'take skeletons' and he was pissed off af himself.

He's calmed down a little since then, but he finds himself still taking it out on someone else.

  
  


Blue. He feels guilty about being so snappy with the other, but he couldn't help it! Something about Blue made him so… mad.

But you know what? Blue probably didn't notice. He probably wasn't even listening to those conversations where Ink would say a snarky comment, or criticize him for the dumbest things, and then again the things he said weren't _that_ bad. And even if he did, he probably didn't take it to heart. He was really confident, so there was absolutely zero chance of it affecting him, problem solved!

  
  


~~~~

  
  
  


Ink was acting off. That much was obvious to Blue.

  
  


He was saying a lot of hurtful things, which was honestly really confusing! Blue didn't know what he did to warrant some of the comments he was told.

It felt like he was in school and being bullied, and normally he'd ask Ink about what was going on, but he was kinda scared about making the other more mad.

  
  


_Blue, at one point you should learn how to shut the fuck up and listen like the rest of us do._

Was something Ink had commented about him one day. Blue was talking with Ink about his Papyrus. Blue missed him, a lot. 

He cried in front of Ink and Dream many times about the death of his brother, and they had been sympathetic to him. But this time when he decided to vent about his feelings to Ink, that was his response.

What was Blue supposed to think of that?

  
  


_Listen Blue, I know you have no idea how to sit still, since you're r******d and have ADHD, but could you please try to do that for just a bit?_

  
  


That comment hit Blue much harder than the other one. Ink never used any slurs, ever. He promoted positivity and acceptance, so slurs were a no go. But for some reason he decided to call Blue a slur and make fun of him for having ADHD?

Blue had been sitting still for literally _hours_ reading a book, and then he got up to go and grab another book when the artist said that. Blue didn't even know he was in the room at the time!

Blue wasn't a very confident person. He hid that behind a fake persona of self admiration, when in reality he didn't think highly of himself at all.

  
  


He was also really anxious, even more so after losing his AU.

But he just wished he knew what he did wrong! Why Ink was saying all this stuff!

Ink only ever made the comments when the two of them were alone.

He made one of those comments once in front of Dream, but that situation is a mess.

  
  


_Blue had accidentally dropped a plate, having been zoned out thinking of recent events. 'Sorry! Oh my god I'm so sorry I didn't mean to drop that.' He had exclaimed. Dream was about to tell him something, but Ink beat him to the chase. 'It's fine, I expected something like this anyway. You never can do anything right.' Ink had scoffed. Dream instantly turned on Ink, demanding to know why the hell he had said that. Then Dream just stopped, giving Ink a sympathetic look. He still made Ink apologize afterwards._

It was all way too confusing for Blue.

  
  


Ink's sudden mood swing made Blue think of someone though… Error.

  
  


Blue hadn't known Error long, only knowing him the short period of time that he had been kidnapped.

  
  


It was terrifying. He was absolutely insane. 

  
  


Error would talk to voices that weren't there, he would attack AUs ruthlessly, he was extremely sadistic as well. And the mood swings? Along with the fact that he was immature as a toddler? To Blue it just yelled _mentally unstable._

After he had been released, Blue didn't see the destroyer after a long time.

  
  


After he joined the board Ink and Dream tried to keep him away from Error, but one day they sent him out on a mission to Outertale to collect something, and he met him.

  
  


Error was stargazing, and he was completely different.

  
  


He had an outfit change that apparently came along with an attitude change.

Blue had completely frozen when he saw Error. He immediately started hyperventilating and his vision blurred up with tears. It was quite pathetic actually, him just standing there and crying- looking at the destroyer who hadn't even noticed him yet.

Error seemed to notice him after a while, and turned around about to call out a name. He too froze when he saw the other.

They just stayed like that for a bit, the two of them staring at each other as Blue panicked, memories of his time in the Anti-Void coming to mind.

Error lept into action when he fully processed what was happening.

"Blue? Blue can you hear me? Nod your head if you can hear me." He had tried to console.

Blue nodded his head a slight bit, afraid of disobeying the other.

"Alright, I'm going to touch you, ok Blue? If that's not ok don't do anything, but if it's ok I want you to nod your head for me." Error instructed.

Blue briskly nodded his head and Error quickly lept into action yet again.

He grabbed both of Blue's hands, (which as Blue thought back to this incident nowadays he realized was weird. Error _hated_ touch preciously, always mentioning something about having haphephobia whenever Blue tried to touch him.)

Error put one of Blue's hands over his chest, and he just held the other hand.

"Ok, Blue I'm going to need you to breathe with me. I'm going to breathe the same way that I want you to, and I want you to feel my chest moving and try to copy my actions.

  
  


Blue nodded.

Error tapped out the rhythm on Blue's hand as he worked through the breathing exercise.

Breathe in for four seconds, hold for seven, out for eight.

Again.

And again.

And once more.

And Blue calmed down.

He looked shakily at Error, who backed up to give him some space.

"W-why… Why did you h-help me?" Blue stuttered, confused.

  
  


"Well, it was kind of my fault that you were panicking in the first place. So it would have been shitty of me not to help." Error shrugged.

"Besides, you reminded me of someone I know." Error smiled slightly.

"Wait- you actually know people, like on a personal level!?" Blue laughed gently.

"That's for me to know." Error responded, turning around and making a portal.

"I'm sorry about what happened all those years ago." Error apologized as he stepped through the portal.

But just before the portal closed completely Error called another thing out.

  
  


"And Blue. You're a good friend." He smiled as the portal closed.

  
  


Blue had been left gaping at the empty expanse of air. 

Ever since that day Blue had a particular fondness for the Destroyer. He got the help he needed and he changed for the better. It was like looking at a new person.

When Blue was forced to fight Error after that, he always tried to go easy on the other.

And if they met up at that very same spot a couple of times? Well, no one had to know.

And if on one of those visits he met Fresh, becoming closer with him as well. That wasn't really anyone's business, right?

  
  


But there was one thing that worried Blue thinking about the whole ordeal.

  
  


Error changed, becoming a better person.

And Ink was changing too, which wasn't necessarily bad…

But Blue had a feeling that he wouldn't like the person Ink was going to become.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, if I ever misrepresent something (like ADHD) or accidentally stereotype or offend anyone dealing with these issues, I am begging you to call me out about it! I'm just anxious at accidentally misrepresenting something like that :/.
> 
> If you see any mistakes roast me down below!
> 
> And I wonder if you can see the similarities between Blue and someone else?


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More lying, yay. Oh, and a board meeting I guess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am personally SUPER excited for what's coming up soon, so I'm writing these chapters as quick as I can to be able to write that one scene I so badly want to write!
> 
> It also helps that I'm feeling super motivated, and am more organized when it comes to the process of writing the fic.
> 
> God the burnout is going to suck.
> 
> TW
> 
> \- There is an argument
> 
> -There is a plotting for kidnapping here

It took Ink another month to finally iron out the wrinkles in his plan.

Dream had become a lot more hesitant about it during that month, which led to a lot of arguments.

  
  


One of which they were having now.

  
  


"I'm not so sure that this is a good idea, Ink! Sure, they may not be the best people, but it still isn't ok to kidnap them!" Dream protested.

"Dream, I swear we have this conversation every other day. We have to do this! If we don't do this people are going to get hurt!" Ink shot back, glaring at his friend.

They were back in the private meeting room, Dream having dragged Ink there to discuss this  _ again. _

"But kidnapping someone is inexcusable!" Dream crossed his arms and glared at the artist.

"Why must you do this!?" Ink groaned, covering his face with his hands. 

"You literally were on board with this plan fucking  _ yesterday.  _ What makes it so different today!" Ink wailed, flailing his arms.

"Yesterday doesn't count, don't use my past against me!" Dream argued.

"Are you using a classic  _ Youtuber  _ excuse!?" Ink laughed incredulously.

"It was all I could think of, don't patronize me." Dream pouted.

"But, seriously Dream, what's the problem?" Ink asked through his dying laughter.

"It feels… wrong. I'm the guardian of positivity, what are people going to think about me if they find out I was part of this  _ crime?"  _ Dream loweredhis voice.

"They're going to think of you as a hero." Ink whispered back, placing a hand on the other's shoulder.

Dream looked up at Ink, who then smiled.

"Imagine, because of  _ you _ the Dark Sans' won't be able to hurt people anymore. Sure, it may be through untraditional means, but that just shows how much you care about the multiverse." Ink sternly said.

"To them it will say that you will be willing to do anything to protect them, and that proves that you're a good guardian." He grinned at Dream.

Dream contemplated it for a second, then...

"Alright, I'm in." He agreed.

"We're going to tell the council in a few minutes , Dream. Don't back up on me now, please?" Ink asked.

Ink's smile turned more gentle as Dream frowned.

"I won't, not this time." Dream nodded, determination filling his gaze as he grabbed Ink's elbow.

Ink stared in Dream's eye sockets for a little longer, trying to determine if he was telling the truth.

When he was sure that he was being honest, Ink quickly pulled the other into a hug. 

Dream laughed an airy laugh and quickly threw his arms around Ink.

They stood like that for a bit, just enjoying the other's presence, two guardians and friends who totally weren't planning on lying to the third guardian.

~~~~

"If you guys are done arguing like a married couple, I brought food." Blue had to interrupt the two's moment.

He had decided to cook some food for his two friends, so hopefully they'd hate him less?

It's not that he thinks that they hate him per say, they just feel distant.

Ink hadn't been making the snide jabs at him quite as often, which was great! But they both felt more distant. And that was frustrating.

It was hard to watch his two closest friends- some of the only people he had left- get so close to each other yet so distant from him.

The 'purge' really had taken everything away from him.

His AU, which included his brother and some of his closest friends.

Outertale along with Outer, who was  _ another  _ one of his closest friends.

And it potentially took out Error and Fresh too.

While the Dark Sans' have been sighted since the 'purging', the two of them hadn't.

Was it possible for them to have died in one of the AUs the Dark Sans' destroyed? Even though truthfully, Blue didn't think that the Dark Sans' did it.

He really missed Error. And Fresh.

He had only talked with Fresh on about 4 occasions, but he was so sweet.

Blue was really looking forward to getting to know him better…

If he lost Dream and Ink, all he'd really have left is Red.

Red is absolutely great! Don't get Blue wrong! But it just wasn't the same...

"Oh, um. How much did you hear of our argument?" Dream squeaked out as he pulled away from Ink, blushing slightly.

"Nothing much, I just heard two voices yelling." Blue shrugged.

"Normally I would have barged in and made my magnificent presence known, but I felt like it was an issue that you two needed to sort out privately." Blue explained.

"Yeah, it was. Thanks Blue." Dream sheepishly said as he rubbed the back of his skull.

"Mweheheh! Well it was no problem for the magnificent Blue!" Blue grinned as he slipped on the mask.

"Yeah, thanks for the food and all, but Dream and I really need to get going, sorry!" Ink apologized as he grabbed Dreams hand, pulling him to the door.

Dream just awkwardly waved before he was completely dragged out the door.

As soon as they were out of sight Blue deflated, hunching in on himself. 

He went over to his blue bean bag and plopped down, sighing.

That encounter practically onfirmed his suspicions, they hated him now.

Blue couldn't help it as his breath came out choked on a sob. Tears slid down his face as his breathing started coming out in gasps.

_ When did he become so alone? _

_________

Ink watched everyone from the head of the table, hands folded carefully on said table.

He had held a board meeting without Blue to discuss his plan of stopping the Dark Sans'.

It felt weird to be doing it without Blue, but then again, there were a lot of missing board members.

"So I'm guessing Reaper couldn't make it?" Dream sighed.

The other board members nodded their heads.

"When is he ever here?" Razz scoffed.

"Whenever he's not busy, which is never." Storyshift Chara (aka just Chara, since they aren't a Sans and they didn't need a nickname) retorded.

"Which is never." Razz mocked the teen in a high pitched voice.

Chara opened their mouth to strike back, but Dream beat them to the chase.

"No fighting. We're here to discuss something important." Dream commanded, instantly silencing the room.

"Why isn't Blue here? Is he sick?" Red asked, just the tiniest bit of concern lacing his voice.

"There's the issue here." Ink announced, and the rest of the board looked at him in confusion.

"We've come up with a plan on how to stop the Dark Sans', but the problem is that this is a plan Blue would never accept, so he cannot be notified of it." Ink explained calmly.

Glances were exchanged throughout the board as Ink's words raised suspicions.

"What kind of plan did  _ you  _ two come up with that the snowflake couldn't handle?" Razz asked sarcastically.

"We're going to kidnap Horror, Dust, Killer, and Cross." Ink explained.

That plan was met with instant fury from some of the board members.

_ That's preposterous! _

_Are you being serious right now!?_

_ Why would we do that? _

_ We shouldn't lower ourselves to their standards! _

_ Why would you do this to Blue!? _

  
  


Ink watched them all in annoyance until he finally intervened.

_ "SILENCE!" _ He yelled as he slammed his hand down on the table.

The whole room became quiet once more as everyone turned to him for an explanation.

  
  


"The plan is going to take a long time to execute, but I think it might be worth it- bear with me here.

  
  


We believe that the four Sans' I just listed are being forced to destroy universes by Nightmare, and that they are redeemable.

Our goal is to lure them to an AU where we will surround them and take them away from Nightmare." Ink explained.

"We are going to do this by keeping a heavier watch on AUs that they are commonly sighted at, or that may hold a specific item that no other AU contains.

For example: Mafiatale has healing gel, an item only available in that AU and all of it's copies.

We will slowly but surely block off these AUs, leaving them with limited places to go.

I will then make a new AU, an original AU which has a lot of negativity to lure Nightmare in. But it will also have a lot of supplies that could be beneficial to them." Ink surveyed the room, noticing that a lot more people seemed open to the idea just by their body language.

"So then when we get them here, we are going to help them become better people. They will be using rooms on the third floor.

But, if we cannot manage to break them out of his control once we get them here, there is another option we can use.

If, and only if they are unredeemable, we will bring them back to their home AU or one of its copies and force a reset." Ink finished, looking slightly smug.

"Best case scenario here? We gain 1-4 new members of the board, ones with special insider information. Worst case scenario? We don't get any new members, yet there are still less people destroying AUs." 

Someone still felt like objecting to his plan.

"Not that I'm against kidnapping, but what about Cross? Doesn't he not have an AU anymore?" Razz asked.

"I don't think we are going to have any issues with Cross. He is the only Dark Sans that has no EXP, therefore he is the most redeemable.

However, should the situation arise where he cannot be shaken from Nightmare's spell, I will use his code as an example to rebuild X!tale as a cyclical universe."

The Dark Sans' are going down soon, Ink would make sure of that.  But hopefully they can keep Blue out of it, he's been through enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, reminder that the last chapter happened 1 months after the incident, and this one is around two months after the incident.
> 
> Roast me if you see a mistake.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream and Blue have a nice day out!
> 
> Or do they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's incredibly smart to be posting this past midnight when I'm tired and can't edit properly, totally.
> 
> But fun fact, this chapter made me really want a fidget cube, so I impulsively ordered a fidget cube online. 
> 
> God I really have to have some impulse management lmao.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING
> 
> This chapter contains
> 
> -An argument
> 
> -Slight harassment 
> 
> -Mentions of emotional abuse
> 
> -Manipulation
> 
> Reader discresion is advised for this fic in general.

Dream felt a little guilty for ignoring Blue recently, especially since he must be going through a lot. Blue looked so happy all of the time that it was easy to forget that he lost his AU.

So Dream was going to make it up to him! He was going to spend the entire day with the other and make sure he knew how much Dream loved him!

Dream knocked on Blue's bedroom and quickly rocked back on his heels, hands folded behind his back.

Dream waited patiently until he heard footsteps from inside the room. Honestly if he hadn't known Blue had been inside before then he never would have known someone was inside.

Blue had gotten excellent as masking his feelings that Dream couldn't feel anything from him anymore.

It was getting harder and harder to tell how Blue was actually feeling now, Dream would have to start guessing by his body language.

The door swung open and there stood Blue, looking tired if his posture and the bags under his eye sockets (how is that even possible!?) indicated anything.

He was practically swallowed by a large weighted blanket that hung off his shoulders and pooled on the ground.

"D-Dream?" Blue yawned, covering his mouth with a hand.

"What are you-?" Blue cut himself off with another yawn.

"What are you doing here? Do you need something?" Blue asked, rubbing his closed eye sockets.

Thankfully he couldn't see Dream wince.

Why did Blue instantly assume Dream needed something from him?

"I wanted to spend the day with you, we haven't had a day together, just the two of us hanging out in so long! But if you don't want to do it it's fine- no pressure." Dream hastily added.

"Um, yeah sure, lemme just wake up. And I'll need a coffee." Blue replied sleepily.

Dream just nodded happily.

"I'll meet you in the caff in just a bit." Dream waved and quickly rushed towards the stairs.

~~~

When Blue made it to the caff the two of them quickly ordered drinks.

Blue got his usual caffeinated beverage while he got a smoothie. Dream couldn't explain why, he just didn't like coffee, always preferring a smoothie or tea.

"Come on Blue!" He exclaimed, grabbing the youngers hand.

"There's a festival going on in an AU and it looked really cool!" He giggled whilst power walking to go to another level.

"Ok, then! There's no need to pull me though!" Blue laughed too.

Dream made it to the staircase and quickly punched in the numbers on his ID into the keypad, granting the two of them access to the rest of the floors.

The two of them enthusiastically ran up the fourth room and into their private meeting room, making a portal in peace.

Dream had summoned the portal in an alleyway, but they could still hear the bustle of the festival.

"Let's go!" He cried, once again dragging Blue behind him.

If he was being honest, he didn't actually know what the festival was about, it just looked cool and had a lot of positive feelings!

The two of them watched in awe as huge festival floats passed by them.

"Is this a pride parade!?" Blue asked joyously.

"Is it?" Dream looked around at the rainbow colored decorations, along with the rainbow colored attire humans and monsters alike were wearing.

"I guess so!" He shrugged.

Now knowing what the parade was about, Dream found it much more enjoyable. 

The two of them walked hand in hand, looking around at the sights the festival had to offer.

There was a separate part of the parade that held vendors, so the two quickly ran to check them out.

Blue excitedly looked at a vendor filled to the brim with different types of fidget toys.

Dream was close behind him, inspecting the stuff with vaguely concealed interest. A lot of the fidget toys helped with stress and anxiety as well, and Dream had been feeling more stressed recently.

Especially with his brother's recent sighting alone at an AU…

Nightmare being alone seemed really suspicious because it didn't make sense. Why would he be alone? Where was the rest of the gang?

Dream noticed that Blue kept on eyeing a particular one in particular.

The fidget cube was a really cool one in Dream's opinion.

It was galaxy colored, which was definitely what caught Blue's attention, and it wasn't too big, small enough to fit in a pocket without grabbing someone's attention. 

"Come on, let's go check out something else!" Blue turned suddenly, smiling brightly at Dream, but Dream could tell that his smile was fake.

_Why didn't Blue buy the fidget toy? He seemed to want it? Was it because of the price?_ Dream wondered and looked over to the price.

He inhaled sharply as he saw that it was listed at 100g.

That was a lot, but Dream was willing to spend that much on Blue.

Blue started walking away, but Dream quickly stopped him.

"Um excuse me, Sir!" Dream waved to get the attention of the vendor.

"I would like to buy that galaxy fidget cube you have." Dream smiled at the other.

"Sure, it's 100g." The man gruffly said.

Dream quickly nodded and got out the G, noticing how intently Blue was watching their interaction.

"Would you like a bag for that?" The man asked as Dream handed over the money.

"No thank you, sir." Dream politely replied.

"Alright then." The man awkwardly replied, instantly looking somewhere else.

Dream turned towards Blue, who promptly looked away.

"Here, I noticed you eyeing it, so you can have it." Dream notified Blue as he handed him the fidget cube.

Blue's eyes widened a bit as he stared at Dream in shock.

"F-for me? Are you serious!?" Blue asked in bewilderment.

"Of course I'm serious, now take it!" Dream insisted.

Blue looked at the fidget cube longingly, reaching out to grab it. But then his hand stilled and he pulled it back, cradling it to his chest.

"I can't, it was 100g, Dream. You bought it, you should keep it." Blue argued.

"Nonsense. I bought it for _you_ Blue. Besides, 100g is nothing." Dream waved it off. He then shoved the fidget cube in Blues hands before the other could object.

"No take backs!" Dream declared.

"I- um- thanks." Blue mumbled bashfully.

He quickly took the fidget cube out of it's plastic cage and hid it in his pocket.

Dream could see his hand moving slightly as he played with it. Blue's posture instantly relaxed slightly and Dream hid his smile behind a hand.

  
  


The two guardians ran around the outside plaza, looking at what different vendors were selling.

They eventually bought food and were eating it when something caught Dream's eye.

In the front of one of the stalls was a multi tooled pocket knife. The blades that were rose gold were hidden behind a purple handle.

Something about it made Dream want it.

Of course Dream knew that it probably wasn't a smart idea for him to buy a blade… but at the same time he couldn't help himself! 

"Blue, Blue, I saw something I want." Dream excitedly tugged on an article of the other's clothing.

"Alright then, what is it?" Blue laughed at the other's eagerness.

"Excuse me, ma'am, how much is that pocket knife?" Dream asked the kind looking woman.

"Oh, that one? That one goes for around 1050g." She declared.

Dream was a little shocked at the price (and undeniably anxious), but decided to ignore that and buy it anyway.

"A pocket knife? Dream… are you sure?" Blue asked hesitantly.

"Yes, of course I will." Dream protested.

"Again, are you absolutely sure? I don't want you-"

"I'll be fine, Blue." Dream quickly brushed off the skeleton's concerns.

"Here you go, the pretty knife for the pretty skeleton." The woman complimented as she handed Dream the knife.

  
  


"Why thank you!" Dream giggled at the compliment, internally wincing.

"Now, sorry to bother you, but I was wondering about where you got that gorgeous necklace?" She asked him.

  
  


Dream clutched the sun shaped pendant on reflex.

  
  


It looked like a simple silver necklace with a sun shaped charm- but it was actually more than that.

It was an invention that Sci had made for him. The necklace muted Dream's aura so that it couldn't affect other people.

It was one of his most treasured items.

"A close friend made it for me." Dream opted to say.

"How much would someone need to pay you for that necklace, hmm?" The woman asked innocently.

Dream instinctively clutched the necklace even harder as he backed up.

It sounded like she wanted the necklace, but why?! It was a normal looking one, why did she want it!? Dream started to internally panic. 

See, the thing is that Dream tended to have a hard time saying no to people. So it would be extremely difficult for him to refuse to give the woman his necklace, his giving nature urging him otherwise. But if he gave it to her his aura would be able to manipulate people- getting him into some extremely dangerous situations.

  
  


Fortunately, Blue had no such problems and quickly stepped in to resolve the situation.

"Sorry, my friend is not interested in selling it, have a nice day!" Blue cheerily said, stopped himself from glaring at her.

And he was having absolutely _none_ of it when it looked like the woman was about to argue.

"I said have a good day." He growled as he dragged Dream away by the shoulders.

  
  


"Are you ok! I didn't hurt you, right?" Blue fussed over Dream when they got far enough.

"I'm fine, Blue." Dream assured him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"If you insist." Blue huffed, pulling Dream into a tight hug.

"I swear, Blue! I'm fine!" Dream laughed, pulling at Blue as he pulled away.

Someone roughly bumped into Dream- who winced a bit. So the two of them found an alley to stay away from the crowd. At least until they decided to go back out.

"So, how've you been liking the trip so far?" Dream asked, gently elbowing Blue in his side.

"It's been really fun! Thank you so much for taking me, Dream!" Blue enthusiastically thanked the golden clad skeleton.

"It's no problem, honestly! I think the two of us needed this." Dream sighed.

The two stood like that, looking out into the crowd surrounding the stalls.

Dream decided to break the silence, asking Blue a very personal question.

"How… how have you been doing since your AU was destroyed?" Dream tentatively asked.

"You used to talk about it alot the first month after it happened, but then you just stopped. It still clearly upsets you- and for good reason. I'm kinda good at this emotional stuff, so you can tell me anything. I'm always happy to listen to what you have to say." Dream put out there.

Blue just scoffed.

Why did he scoff?

"You apparently don't like listening to what I have to say. You've made that quite clear based on the fact that you're hiding a secret from me." He snarled.

Dream's marrow instantly ran cold.

_Blue knew he was hiding a secret._

_Abort mission! Abort mission!_

"Besides, I already know how much I bother you with my incessant chatter. Ink's made that message really clear." Blue spat.

Ink's done what? 

"What do you mean by that? Blue… what has Ink said to make you believe that?" Dream asked, desperate to cling onto a subject that didn't involve the plan.

"You know what I'm talking about, don't act like you don't know." Blue's voice steadily became smaller as he shrunk in on himself.

"No, I don't know. Blue, what's going on?" Dream asked, growing more and more concerned.

Blue turned to face the wall, keeping his back on Dream.

"You've seen him insult me before, don't act like you haven't." Blue barked.

When had Ink ever insulted Blue?

  
  


Wait- a couple of months ago, back when Blue had shattered a plate.

Ink didn't mean that though, Dream could instantly tell.

Earlier on that day Ink had forgotten to put his walls up, and Dream could feel the amount of pain he was going through.

It was extremely concerning.

But surely that was a one time occasion.

Surely it had to be.

There was no way Ink would _ever_ do this to Blue.

No way.

Not Ink.

Not _his_ Ink.

But, he had to know what Blue was talking about.

"Blue, just _what_ has Ink said to you." Dream demanded, grabbing Blue's shoulder and forcing him to face him.

He was startled to see the tears streaming down Blue's skull from his eye sockets. And his eyelights were hazy. What could Ink have said to warrant _this_ kind of reaction out of Blue!?

"I-its nothing, I'm. I am j-just overreacting." Blue stuttered as he tried to pull his shoulder out of Dream's grip.

Dream quickly pulled the taller to his chest, rubbing his back soothingly.

He could feel Blue's tears through his clothing, and he suddenly felt the need to protect the other.

"Blue, it's not. It doesn't matter how miniscule of a thing Ink told you was. If it made you react like this it _needs_ to be addressed." Dream left no room for argument.

"W-well." Blue paused as he sniffled.

"I-Ink has been really mad at me since those AUs were destroyed, even though he's not been as mad recently!" Blue tried to defend Ink.

"But he sometimes seems to be mad at me for just existing. Getting mad at me for moving around, or talking. Hell, one time he got mad at me because I was _breathing too loud._ He's even resulted to calling me slurs and making fun of me for having ADHD. I just don't know what I did to make you guys hate me so much!" Blue exclaimed as he sobbed.

Dream said nothing. He let go of Blue, ignoring his whine of protest.

He turned on his heel so fast that Blue couldn't even see his face. Almost immediately he made a portal and stepped through. 

Blue sunk to his knees. He shouldn't have said that, Dream would never want to talk to him again!

He messed things up with the other so badly.

  
  
  
  
  


~~~~

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Dream. was. **_furious._ **

If the things Blue told him were true, he didn't think he could ever forgive the artist.

  
  


Blue seemed to have told him the _bare minimum_ of the straight up _abuse_ he had been receiving from the other

And it was horrifying. 

Dream was extremely protective of Blue, _extremely._

And _anyone_ who fucked with him was in for a _bad fucking time._

  
  
  
  


He barged into the other's office, not bothering to knock.

  
  


Ink immediately jumped up from where he sat, looking around to see what had happened.

His eyes landed on Dream and he visibly lit up, smiling brightly.

"Dream! Where have you been all da-"

"Shut **_up_ **." Dream snarled.

This startled the artist greatly, if he were to judge by the widening of his eye sockets, or how his white eyelights shrunk slightly, and how he dropped the pen he was holding.

But there was no way that he didn't know how mad Dream would be because of this.

"Dream!? What's-"

"You know _exactly_ what I'm here about." Dream snapped, taking a deep breath to try and collect himself.

"How else did you think I was going to react to you _abusing_ Blue!?" Dream exclaimed, immediately decided that being collected wasn't worth it.

"Abusing Blue- Dream! _What on_ **_earth_ ** _are you talking about!?"_ Ink exclaimed, shooting up from his seat.

"I'm not fucking hitting Blue, why would you assume that I was!" Ink cried.

"I never said you were hitting him." Dream snarled.

"I never said that you were hitting him, I said that you were _abusing_ him. There's a difference." Dream growled.

"What you're talking about is _physical abuse,_ what I'm talking about is _emotional abuse._ " Dream glared.

  
  


"Emotional abuse can be shown in multiple different ways, from verbal abuse, constant criticism, manipulation, and more. And hey! Doesn't that perfectly describe what you've been putting Blue through!" Dream yelled.

"And you know what I just realized! You _instantly_ assumed that I was talking about physical abuse, even though I didn't say anything to make you think that. Is there something that Blue _didn't_ tell me for that to be your first reaction!?" Dream shrieked as he slammed his hands down on Ink's desk, cracking it a little.

"I'm not abusing Blue _any_ way shape or form, I don't know why you'd believe that!" Ink argued back, looking downright insulted.

_"Oh yeah!? Making fun of someone's disability isn't emotionally abusive!? Not to mention fucking abelist!?"_ Dream's yells because higher in pitch.

" _And for some damn reason he thinks that you hate him! He's even complained about you complaining about him_ **_breathing_ ** _."_ Dream at this point looked absolutely like an animal in his fury.

"What!? I never did that!? I don't know what you're talking about!" Ink protested.

"Oh _really!?_ Then why was Blue bawling his eyes out in my arms!? Last I checked Blue doesn't do that for no reason!" Dream countered.

  
  


Ink froze at that, looking lost in his thoughts.

Then his eyes light up in recognition as he seemed to have come to some conclusion.

His mouth opened slightly in shock and he seemed to come to a decision.

"I know what's going on here." He proclaimed.

"I'm going to need you to sit as I explain this." Ink gestured to the seat in front of Dream.

Dream sat down as aggressively as he possibly could.

"I think Blue is still grieving the loss of his AU, understandable enough." Ink said in the most soothing tone of voice it seemed that he could manage.

"In his grief, he either misinterpreted things I was saying or doing, and in his own self loathing he mistook his thoughts for my words." 

Dream blanched at this.

"Self loathing? Blue doesn't hate himself, he doesn't hate anyone!" Dream pointed out.

"Actually, I strongly disagree. I made Underswap along with its copies and all of it's inhabitants, which means that I technically made Blue. I know what I'm talking about." Ink declared.

Dream deflated a bit, feeling extremely guilty.

_How hadn't he picked up on that!?_

Then he remembered something, a memory that Blue's words triggered.

"But what about the time you got on Blue's ass after he dropped a plate? The comment you made was extremely rude." Dream countered.

  
  


"No offense, Dream. But I believe you either misinterpreted the situation or have forgotten what happened." Ink countered.

"How!?" Dream asked.

"You made a comment about how Blue couldn't do anything right! Ho-"

"I didn't." Ink sternly said.

"I made a comment about how _I_ couldn't do anything right, since a plate that I made broke." He pushed the narrative forward.

"But I made you apologize to Blue! Why would I do that if you said something self deprecating!?" Dream pointed out.

"Apologize to Blue!? You never made me apologize to Blue! You made me apologize out loud to _myself_ because of the self deprecating comment- which honestly I didn't appreciate. Blue jokingly accepted the apology for me." Ink explained.

"How- how could I have gotten the situation so messed up!?" Dream asked in bewilderment.

But something still felt off.

"But why would Blue cry about it?' He asked.

"Either he actually believed that I said those things, or he's looking for attention. And the things he said don't even make sense, like the part about me allegedly calling him a slur? Dream, when have I _ever_ used a slur." Ink said.

"But how could I have gotten the situation so sc-"

"Dream, no offense. But I don't think you are the best judge of character, and you tend to have memories easily manipulated." Ink cut Dream off.

"Like how you believe that Nightmare is still a good person, or that he ever was a good person." Ink said.

Dream winced at his words. That cut deep.

"But he was a good person, Ink! You can't say that he wasn't because you didn't kno-"

" _Good people don't go on to murder trillions, Dream!"_ Ink was starting to lose his patience.

Dream stayed silent for a bit.

"Then what should we do with Blue?" He hesitantly asked.

"Ignore him the best you can, if he sees that this behavior doesn't get him attention, he'll stop." Ink advised.

"But it feels like disciplining a child." Dream uncomfortably pointed out.

"So be it. Sometimes you have to treat people like children in order to teach them a lesson." Ink shrugged.

  
  


Dream just sat there for a bit, feeling guilty as he stared at Ink's desk.

"I'm sorry for doubting you, Ink." Dream apologized.

"As you should be."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Blue! :(
> 
> Is it weird as an author to be low key falling for the manipulation you yourself wrote? Either Ink's manipulation is extremely convincing, or I'm just dumb. I'm kinda leaning towards the latter tbh.
> 
> This was posted late at night, there's gonna be mistakes so point them out! I literally beg of you to point out any and all flaws in this!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue gets a new friend! (Finally, about time that something good happens to him.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING
> 
> \- A character has what is essentially a panic attack in this chapter.

Blue messed things up with Dream last month, there's no doubt about that.

  
  


Ever since he admitted to Dream what Ink was saying, he's only seen him twice, _twice._

They literally live in the same building yet have only seen each other twice in around a month, (even though it was more like two, since it happened at the beginning of last month and it's the end of this month), so Dream's avoiding him.

  
  


And his two brief interactions with the other seemed to be slightly hostile.

Dream barely talked, maybe mumbling something- but other than that nothing.

It made Blue extremely anxious, it got to the point where he got multiple panic attacks. In these panic attacks he let his guard down- so that Dream could feel and hopefully help him?

  
  
  
  
  
  


No one ever came.

  
  


The only thing that soothed him during this time was the fidget cube Dream bought him. It quickly became his prized possession, always on his person.

  
  


There was barely a moment that passed where Blue wouldn't be playing around with it.

He was constantly anxious and jumped at the slightest thing. He also had a hard time being around a few people recently- more specifically Ink, and… Geno?

The skeleton had come the the building recently- an invention created in a collaboration of Sci and Life keeping him alive.

Geno had noticed Blue and came over to say hi, but Blue freaked out shortly after seeing him and ran away.

Blue had no idea why! He just did.

God damn it- he was going to have to apologize to Geno next time he sees him, huh?

  
  


And if things with Dream were bad? His friendship with Ink was basically confirmed to be over.

The other barely spoke to him, even if they were in the same room. The only thing Blue ever heard out of Inks mouths were insults.

Oh, and they were holding board meetings without him! 

Red had confessed that there were secret board meetings going on without Blue's knowledge. 

Blue had broken down in sobs in front of Red over his shattered relationship with the other two.

Of course Red had no idea how to deal with tears- being from Underfell and all.

So he said that they were holding meetings about something that Blue couldn't know about in regards to stopping the Dark Sans', and that's probably why they were distancing themselves.

But why are they hiding secrets from him! And about what!?

He already knows of the plan to stop the Dark Sans', he doesn't agree with cutting off their supplies until they give up, surely there are better ways.

He still doesn't get why they can't invite him to the meetings.

Great! Now Blue was getting worked up.

  
  


Blue's breathing sped up as he looked around his room, the room that _Dream and Ink_ helped him make, in the building that _Ink_ owned, right next to _their_ rooms.

And he suddenly couldn't stand it.

Blue got up from his bed, legs shaking as he hastily made a portal.

_He needed to get out._

_He couldn't stand it._

_He had to get out._

_Get out._

_Hurry!_

_Getoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetout-_

  
  


Maybe if he had stayed a second longer he would have heard Dream knocking on his door to help him.

  
  


~~~~

  
  


Blue landed in a pile of snow, immediately jolting him back to the present.

He gasped as he lifted his head up from the snow pile.

Placing a hand over his chest he panted- trying to even out his breath.

He shivered and curled up into a ball, laying in the snow.

  
  


The cold of Snowdin of course made the tears rolling down his cheeks hurt even more. But at this point Blue couldn't care less.

  
  


He brought out the fidget cube, playing around with it as he tried to calm down.

It took quite a while of him just laying in the snow before he could calm down, but when he did it was like a breath of fresh air.

He continued playing with the fidget cube, the last gift he got from Dream back when they were friends.

Blue would never actually admit it out loud, but as he hugged the fidget cube tight to his chest- he felt a lot better.

It was almost as if he was getting a hug from Dream… but let's be honest, he was never getting another one of those.

"Hello there!" A voice snapped Blue out of his reverie.

"Do you need help?" The loud voice asked, prompting Blue to look up.

He must have gone to an Undertale universe, seeing that an Undertale Papyrus was currently standing over him, extending a hand.

"Um, yes please?" Blue timidly asked.

The Papyrus smiled and quickly scooped Blue up in his arms.

Blue yelped at that, not expecting it.

"How long have you been there? You're freezing?" The Papyrus asked in concern.

Blue refused to look at the Papyrus. He quickly busied himself with the fidget cube so that he had an excuse as to why he refused to make eye contact.

"I dunno." He quickly shrugged.

"Well, as a good king I take care of my subjects! I'm taking you to the castle to heal!" The Papyrus declared.

Blue's eyes widened at that.

_I thought this was an Undertale copy? Why is Papyrus the king?_ Blue wondered.

_Is this something like Altertale?_ Blue thought.

As the two of them walked Papyrus seemed to be a little more sad, especially as they passed what Blue assumed was the skelebros house on the way to the river person.

Papyrus hummed a random tune as they got in the river person's boat.

" _Tra la la."_ They hummed.

The two of them sat in silence, only broken by the river persons humming.

Papyrus gently rubbed Blue's arms as he still carried him bridal style. 

Blue shivered and melted into the touch. He hadn't realized how touch starved he had become until this moment. Most of his physical contact used to come from the other two guardians. And that wasn't happening anymore.

"You know, you remind me a lot of my brother." Papyrus smiled gently, looking forward.

"I- I do?" Blue squeaked out.

"Yes, Sans. You two look almost identical, the only difference is your clothing really." Papyrus chuckled.

"Say, what's your name? I've never seen you around here." Papyrus asked.

"Um, Blue." Blue mumbled.

"Blue? Did I hear that right? That's a lovely name!" Papyrus exclaimed.

" _Beware of the man who came from the other world."_ The river person warned Papyrus as he carried Blue out of the boat.

"Will do! Thank you for the advice along with the ride!" Papyrus called out.

He didn't get a response.

Blue felt guilty as he cuddled more into Papyrus. Papyrus had a Sans. He was just intruding on that.

  
  
  


"Say, Blue." Papyrus said as they entered the castle.

"I'm curious, do you have a brother?" Papyrus asked him.

"Not anymore, he died." Blue solemnly answered.

"Oh, really? Say, mind telling me which AU you're from? I'm assuming Underswap, but I'm not 100% sure." Papyrus smiled as they entered the house.

This startled Blue, who immediately sat up in Papyrus' arms.

Papyrus just chuckled at his antics, setting him down on the armchair in the living room.

"You know about the multiverse!?" Blue asked in shock.

Papyrus laughed even louder at that as he entered the kitchen.

"My brother-Sans- used to own a small business in the AUs Collaboration In Order To Maintain Peace And Prosperity building before he died." Papyrus brought out a plate of spaghetti and a cup of juice for Blue.

Papyrus must have seen the look Blue was giving the pasta, because he said:

"Don't worry, it's not Undyne's recipe. I swear it's actually edible." He shook his head fondly.

Blue hesitantly took a bite, maintaining eye contact with Papyrus the whole time.

His eyes widened in awe as he took the first bite.

_It. was. AMAZING!_

Blue started eating faster, barely even breathing.

Papyrus laughed and quickly walked over to Blue, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Slow down a bit, you're going to choke." He advised the skeleton stuffing food down his throat.

"Sorry, it's just so good!" Blue choked out through his mouth full of food.

"When was the last time you ate?" Papyrus asked the skeleton.

Blue shrugged, continuing to eat.

  
  


He may have had a problem with taking care of himself recently…

"Do you mind if I talk a bit?" Papyrus asked as he sat on the ground at Blue's feet.

Blue nodded his head as he ate.

"Ok then." He smiled gratefully.

"Since I know there are different Papyrus' out there, for all intents and purposes you can refer to me as Basil." Basil told Blue.

Blue once again nodded his head.

"You may have been curious as to why I'm the king, considering what Universe this is." Basil put out.

"Actually!" Blue interjected. "I don't know what Universe this is, I didn't check what Universe I was going to when I left the board's headquarters." Blue notified Basil.

"Oh? Well, we are in Aftertale." Basil explained to Blue.

"Aftertale? Does that mean Geno's technically watching us?" Blue asked, instantly looking at the ceiling.

"No no no, according to Frisk, Geno isn't there anymore. Apparently he ran away with some other Sans named Reaper." Basil told Blue.

"Oh, you're _that_ Geno's brother?" Blue asked, wincing.

"Yes, is there a problem." Blue shrugged as he finished his food, moving to stand up. Basil quickly put an end to this as he grabbed Blue's empty plate and headed to put it in the sink.

Blue managed to down his soda before Basil came back. He hadn't even noticed before how hungry and thirsty he was.

"So, what happened between you and my brother for you to be flinching at the mere mention of him?" Basil asked Blue as he returned.

"Weeell." Blue uncomfortably fidgeted, taking out the fidget cube again.

"I may have had a panic attack the last time I saw Geno." Blue admitted meekly.

"A panic attack? When you saw Geno? Why?" Basil asked, clearly confused at the other's antics.

Blue just shrugged, still being confused as to why he did it.

  
  


"If this is Aftertale, why are you the King? And how did Frisk find out that Geno ran away with Reaper?" Blue asked Basil, who was now insisting to refill his drink.

"I frankly don't know how Frisk found out that Geno ran away with Reaper. All I know is that I sent Frisk to go to the save screen to check in on him, then they told me that." He shrugged as he refilled Blue's cup.

"And as for the part about me being king? Frisk decided to kill a couple of important people around, eh… 5 years ago? Apparently I was the only one left willingly to step up to the challenge." Basil explained.

"5 years ago!? Why haven't they reset yet!?" Blue exclaimed.

Basil shrugged.

"So now I'm the king, huzzah!" Basil laughed.

"Even though I miss the two of them dearly." Basil shook his head sadly.

"Did Frisk?" Blue trailed off.

Basil seemingly got what Blue was trying to ask, because he nodded his head.

The two of them stayed in tad awkward silence, Blue nursed his drink as he adjusted his position.

His head was now resting on the arm rest by the fireplace, while his feet were dangling off the other arm rest.

"Aren't you one of the guardians? Along with Dream and Ink?" Basil asked curiously.

Blue flinched at hearing the other guardians names, but nodded anyway.

Basil tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"You seem to have flinched at the mention of your fellow guardians. I don't mean to pry, but is everything alright?" He asked.

"I-its fine. We've just been having some problems recently." Blue turned his head to face away from Basil, not trusting himself to not cry.

"Do you want to speak about it? Not a single thing you say shall be spoken to them." Basil swore.

"They've just been a bit mean… that's all." Blue insisted.

Basil didn't quite believe that, but he let it slide.

But Basil couldn't ignore how sad Blue looked, and how he still looked so cold.

"Do you mind if I hug you, Blue?" Basil asked for permission.

Blue looked at him a tiny bit shocked for a moment, then he shook his head.

Quickly placing his cup on the ground he reached his arms out.

Basik quickly scooped the smaller into his arms, noticing how he trembled as he cuddled into him.

Basil soothingly rubbed circles on Blue's back, feeling concern for him.

  
  


The two of them stayed like this for a while, until Basil noticed that Blue was on the verge of falling asleep.

He smiled at the skeleton as he struggled to keep his dropping eye sockets open.

"S-sorry, I shouldn't be abusing your hospitality any longer." Blue apologized as he tried to get up.

Basil shook his head and held onto Blue a tiny bit harder, rubbing his skull.

"It's fine, you're not. I really don't mind, the company is quite nice." Basil lowered his voice slightly.

"W-why, why are you helping me? Why did you even help me in the first place?" Blue asked sleepily as he nuzzled into Basils chest.

"Because you reminded me of my brother, both of them. I missed having someone to take care of, even if I have a whole kingdom." Basil admitted.

Blue sleepily nodded as he stopped fighting sleep.

Basil just fondly watched as the guardian fell asleep un his arms.

  
  


____________

  
  
  


Dream felt panicking from somewhere in the building.

Sure, it was normal for someone to be panicking in the building, it wasn't too pleasant of a place anyway. But something about this felt different.

Dream traced the feeling back to the third floor, to Blue's room.

  
  


Dream immediately felt his guilt sky rocket at the other's despair.

He was trying to ignore Blue recently, firstly because Ink advised him to do so, but also because he felt guilty.

Lying to Blue was extremely hard, and it made him feel absolutely terrible.

He found it becoming harder and harder to lie to the other recently, especially knowing that he knows they're lying to him.

So he avoided him out of guilt and shame.

But this did not have a positive effect on him, judging by the negative feelings oozing from the room.

Dream quickly opened the door to help Blue, but found that he was too late and Blue was gone.

  
  


Dream spent the rest of the day feeling guilty about not helping his friend.

He felt worse when Ink told him to get Blue, because they were going to have their first council meeting with the other in months.

  
  


Dream texted Blue about it, the first time he actually contacted the other over the phone in months.

  
  


Blue never showed up to the meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what I originally had planned for this chapter, and for the whole story honestly, didn't involve Basil at all. But I randomly decided to put him in this chapter, help Blue out a tiny bit.
> 
> Roast me for any errors in this!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get some good news!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter feels way too short, but whatever.
> 
> Edit: Yeah I rewrote this chapter, and now it's at least semi-readable.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING
> 
> Mentions of death

Blue had spent less and less time at the board's building, preferring to spend time with Basil. The other was super kind, always making him feel better after Ink's biting comments.

And Basil was extremely wise, always giving Blue an interesting new perspective on a dilemma.

The two of them were in Waterfall, using Undyne's old training dummy to practice magic attacks.

"So everybody assumes that they were the ones to destroy those universes?" Basil asked as he fired a bone attack at the dummy.

Blue nodded, standing off to the side as he leaned against the wall.

"Yeah, they do. And I'm honestly not buying it." He played with the fidget cube.

"I mean, it doesn't make sense! There's only 6 of them, seven if you include Fresh!" Blue exclaimed.

"Even then, from what I know Fresh has never destroyed a universe before." Blue spoke over the bone attacks that the dummy was enduring.

"It doesn't seem possible for them to destroy so many at once." Basil finished for him.

"Exactly!" Blue yelled, thankful that someone else finally agreed with him.

"I really doubt that they could have done it," Blue admitted.

"From what you've told me, it sounds like they may have been framed," Basil suggested.

"But who, or _what_ could have done this?" Blue asked the question that was on both of their minds.

"I don't know, but you should be more careful Blue," Basil advised.

"Yeah, I probably should." He sighed as he put the fidget cube away.

"Have you eaten today, Blue?" Basil asked, finishing his assault on the poor dummy.

"No, I wasn't really feeling up to it." Blue shrugged as he got off the wall, walking forward to meet Basil.

"Well, that certainly won't work! How about I make a quiche for the both of us once we get to the castle?" Basil asked, putting a hand on Blues back as the two of them walked in the direction of the river person.

"I don't really have a choice in the matter, do I?" Blue chuckled.

Basil just laughed his signature laugh, shaking his head.

  
  


~~~

  
  


Ink had barely seen Blue since Dream confronted him two months ago.

On one hand, that was great! If Blue wasn't around he didn't feel as angry.

He felt as guilty as he could possibly be whenever he took out his anger on the other. Blue didn't really deserve it, but he couldn't do anything to stop it!

On the other hand, it was terrible because he couldn't take his anger out on Blue anymore, losing his outlet. No, what Ink meant to say was that it was terrible because he cared about his friend, and was worried about him.

Yeah, it was kinda terrible for him to be viewing his friend as an outlet, but you wanna know what's really terrible?

The Dark Sans'.

_~~God damn it~~ _

And it was a good thing that Ink was working so hard to stop them!

  
  


None of the Dark Sans' had been spotted since Nightmare had been seen in Mafiatale.

Since then Ink had managed to lock down every single copy of Mafiatale, effectively stopping them from going there.

Ink needed to stop them from destroying more AUs.

  
  


Whenever they destroyed an AU, it was extremely painful, both physically and mentally.

He couldn't bear seeing it anymore, he _had_ to stop them.

Sure, it could be seen as an obsession, but did it really matter if it helped people in the end?

  
_~~That wasn't the main reason he had for creating AUs.~~ _

Ink was busy planning on which AUs to block off next when there was a knock at the door.

  
  


_Knock knock._

Ink looked up. The only people allowed up here were Dream and Blue, so it had to be one of the two of them.

Ink walked over to the door and swung it open, revealing:

  
  


"Reaper? You finally made it!" Ink exclaimed, smiling wide.

"Sorry for taking so long, Ink. I've just been quite busy recently." The eldest god of death apologized.

"Yeah, you must be busy, being the god of death and all." Ink nodded his head, then quickly looked around. "How did you even get up here? Did Blue or Dream let you enter this floor?" He asked.

"That's my secret to know." Reaper winked at Ink.

"Ugh, you and your secrets." Ink groaned, causing Reaper to laugh.

"You know it!~" He sang in a teasing tone of voice.

Ink sighed, moving to the side and flinging out his hand.

"Come on in, we have a lot to catch up on." Ink declared.

"That we do.~" Reaper teased yet again as he floated in the room, Starbucks cup in hand.

The coffee was so strong that Ink could still smell it when he sat down at his desk, even though Reaper was floating in the middle of the room.

"So, what'd you need, guardian?" Reaper asked as he laid in the air, resting his chin on his hands.

"Aw, come on! Can't a guardian just want to talk to a friend?" Ink asked with a pout, looking through his desk for some paperwork.

"That they can." Reaper agreed. "But, you've been pestering me for months, so something must be up." Reaper pointed out, taking a sip from his coffee.

"I do have some questions, but we don't have to start out with those! Tell me, Reaper, how's Geno been doing?" Ink politely asked.

"Gen has been doing ok-ish." Reaper smiled sadly.

"He's been missing his brother a lot, but there isn't much we can do about that situation." He shrugged, but Ink noticed that Reaper seemed much more somber.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Ink apologized. "But other than that, how's he been doing?" Ink asked again.

"He's getting better. Gen is still adjusting to the fact that he isn't, quote on quote, 'broken' anymore." Reaper sighed, clearly discontent at Geno calling himself broken.

"So the hp food idea really did work?" Ink asked, to which Reaper nodded.

"It seemed so logical that it was embarrassing we didn't think of it before." Reaper chuckled.

"How about you, how's life with the boyfriends?~" Reaper teased.

"For the last time Reaper, Blue, Dream, and I are not dating! Ink huffed in exasperation, shutting his desk harder than he really needed to

"Are you sure about that? Come on, don't tell me you haven't ever thought about tapp-"

" _REAPER!"_ Ink blushed, covering his skull.

"They are my friends. End. Of. Story." Ink growled out.

"Aww, come out. You can dish it out but you can't take it? Especially considering the fact that you used to joke about being gay for them?" Reaper pointed out.

"Anyway! About the reason I called you here!" Ink hurridly changed the subject.

"I was wondering a couple of things, about information you might have." Ink informed him, pulling out a couple of sheets of paper from his desk.

"Shoot." Reaper nodded as he went to continue drinking his caffeinated beverage.

"Can you feel when a universe dies? Or is it only souls?" Ink asked in curiosity.

"Well, yes. I can feel when an AU dies." Reaper responded, kicking up his legs and crossing his ankles.

"How do you know? Is it just a known thing?" Ink asked. "Or does it physically pain you?" 

"Well, I can't feel the universe itself dying, but I can feel the souls of the people living in the AU dying. I can also feel all the magic in the AU that is dying." Reaper explained.

"The… magic? What do you mean by that?" Ink asked in a confused manner as he tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy.

Reaper chuckled at the image but sobered up again when talking about his work.

"Most people know me and my brother for reaping souls, since that's the most common form of death." Reaper started to explain.

"But death can come in many different shapes and forms, one of them being when magic loses its... magic. My scythe can actually do stuff like destroy magic, or diffuse magic from a magic-filled item, fun fact!" Reaper finished way too cheerily.

"Oh, ok then." Ink awkwardly nodded.

He awkwardly cleared his throat, looking through his paperwork.

"And another thing, are the Dark Sans' dead? I know Red has asked you this- I'd say sorry if it wasn't so damn funny! But we are really confused as to which of them may be dead or alive." Ink explained.

Reaper's face instantly fell, looking haunting as his usual smile was gone.

"Let me make one thing clear, I _didn't_ appreciate what you guys did, especially on television." Reaper's voice had taken on a dark tone.

"So for that, I'm not going to answer your questions." Reaper looked smug.

"Call this payback." He shrugged innocently.

"Alright then, is there anyone dead from Nightmare's gang?" Ink immediately took advantage of that loophole.

"Uh uh, I thought I just told you that I won't be answering those questions." Reaper tutted, wagging a finger in the air.

"The question you prohibited me from asking was about the _Dark Sans',_ which covers more Sans' than just Nightmares gang, I'm asking about the gang specifically." Ink smugly pointed out.

"God damn it." Reaper swore lowly.

Ink crossed his hands patiently as he waited for Reaper to answer the question.

"So? What is it?" He edged Reaper on.

Reaper looked around for a second, seemingly contemplating something.

Ink felt confused and concerned why Reaper was so hesitant to give out the information.

Reaper better be staying loyal to them.

  
  


"The… majority. The majority of the gang is alive." Reaper hesitantly answered.

"How many are dead? And how did they die?" Ink asked Reaper.

  
  


Reaper refused to answer the questions, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head.

"I've already answered a question about the gang, I don't want to answer another one." He explained. "Not after you embarrassed me on live television and ruined my date with Geno."

"Alright, then how about Error and Fresh?" Ink exploited the other loophole.

Reaper opened his mouth to protest, but Ink cut him off.

"I didn't say the Dark Sans'" Ink exclaimed.

Reaper looked defeated. He paused for a moment, seemingly contemplating something.

"Are you sure that you want to know?" Reaper asked.

Ink vigorously shook his head.

Reaper inhaled.

"The two of them are dead."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is 100% going to be a couple of mistakes, if you see them point them out please.
> 
> Hopefully the next chapter flows better for me, this chapter and the last one just seem out of place. But there are so many scenes that I'm super excited to write! To be honest one of those scenes was in this chapter... but idk it's just a tad bit disappointing.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue has a bad time :(

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited for when we get back to where we left off (which is soon, I promise!) that I've been breezing through these chapters.

Blue was back in the anti void.

  
  
  
  


Why was he here?

Error was the only person who could access the Anti-void, right?

So why is he here?

How did he get here?

  
  


And most importantly, where's Error?

  
  
  


…. That was a dumb question. Reaper already confirmed last month that Error was dead.

  
  


But, why is he here?

  
  
  
  
  


Blue noticed a couple of things off with the Anti-void.

Firstly, it was  _ freezing. _

His teeth were chattering as he shook, walking around on unsteady legs. It took a lot to get a skeleton this cold, so it didn't make sense.

The Anti-void didn't look nearly as expansive as the last time he was here.

It was white like normal, but then it blended off into grey, and finally, pitch black nothingness.

Blue remembered there being no sound in the Anti-void, that was what had driven him to the brink of insanity.

But now everything was painfully loud. 

  
  


The clattering of his teeth. The footsteps that echoed around the void. The sound his knees made as they buckled and he fell to the ground. The sobs that came out of his mouth as he relieved memory after memory along with his heaving breath.

Another pair of footsteps…

  
  


Blue looked around anxiously, trying to see where the intruder was.

He couldn't see anything.

  
  


Blue looked up to where Error's strings were intertwined with human souls…

  
  


… except that those weren't Error's strings.

Error's strings were blue, while these ones were a bright red.

Intertwined among the thick nest of strings were monster souls, and puppets.

The most notable one being a huge wooden puppet of Ink.

The puppet hung limply as some unseen puppeteer manipulated its movements. Faux Ink's head rested on his shoulder and his legs dragged behind him as he waved his arms around. It al most looked as if he was creating an AU, which was something he hadn't been able to do recently.

Blue noticed a calendar nearby, it had a date marked on it in around two months.

Blue continued looking at the bright red strings, they were really bright.

Way too bright.

"Ow." Blue's voice echoed around him as he winced and covered his eye sockets with his hand.

" _ Ow.."  _ His voice echoed back, again and again and again. 

The voice got louder and louder and louder. 

Blue had to quickly cover his skull with his arms, it was too loud.

" _ ENOUGH!"  _ Blue's voice cracked as he yelled, instantly shutting up the echo. 

It was now too quiet as everything was still.

The strings that had previously been swaying were now incredibly still, not moving in the slightest bit.

None of the puppets or souls showed any sign of movement either, especially not the Ink one.

There was no more sound. Blue tried snapping his fingers, nothing.

The footsteps started up again, but this time behind him.

Blue quickly whirled around, falling back on his hands. The sight he saw was disturbing to say the fucking least.

There was Error, limping towards him.  But there were red strings everywhere,  controlling his every movement.

There was a string tied around his neck, seemingly cutting off his air supply as he was gasping for breath.

The red strings cutting into his legs were forcing him to move forward, creating painfully slow footsteps.

His arms were being held up, presumably to summon a weapon. But his hands remained limp.

His eye lights were empty, red fumes being let out at a steady pace.

His voice glitched as he rasped out a sentence.

**_"yOu fAilED mE bLuE."_ ** His voice echoed and glitched in the void, being double layered as someone else spoke at the same time.

Blue opened his mouth to speak, to apologize, to do  _ anything.  _

**_"Don't do that, you can't speak here, only I can."_ ** Error's lifeless tone rang out. Blue could swear that he heard someone yell the words along with him.

He watched horrified as marrow ran down Errors already tattered clothing from where the strings dug in tight.

And that's when Blue finally noticed it. There was a bundle of strings in front of Error's chest, in the shape of a monster soul. There were also glitches buzzing around it… just like Errors.

**_"You failed me, what kind of guardian are you?"_ ** The voice taunted him as Error drew closer and closer. Blue was frozen in fear.

He tried again to say something.  _ I'm sorry _ , or,  _ I should've done more _ , or,  _ I'll try harder! _

**_"You're not really sorry, if you were you'd be apologizing to me."_ ** He demanded.

Blue tried once again to apologize to Error, but he cut him off again.

**_"Not to him, to_ ** **_me_ ** **_."_ ** Errors voice snarled.

" _ I'm sorry Fate!" _ Blue could hear his voice bounce around the Anti-void before he could even register the fact that he spoke.

Error leaned forward as slowly as possible, and patted Blue's cheek.

Marrow mixed with tears, and the next thing Blue knew he was being slapped as hard as possible.

He cried out in pain as he toppled to the side, holding his skull as he laid on his side and curled up into the fetal position.

**_"You should be. Be grateful that I am choosing to spare you. Mess with me, my chosen ones, or your fate ever again, and I will not show you the same mercy."_ ** The voice warned.

**_"Don't look for him."_ ** Blue heard that one last commandment as he woke up screaming.

  
  


~~~~

Dream was with Ink, the two of them were looking over which AU to block off when they heard it.

A blood curdling shriek from another room.

_ Blues room. _

Any and all rational thought left Dream as he bolted out of the room and towards the area of the shriek, Ink doing the same thing.

The two of them barged in Blue's room to see Blue on his bed, sobbing.

Dream could feel the fear of his friend and quickly rushed forward.

He pulled Blue to his chest in a hug, humming in an attempt to calm him as Blue desperately clung to him.

Ink quickly rushed forward as well and pulled the two of them in a hug, rubbing Blue's back soothingly.

Blue flinched a bit, which prompted Ink to comfort him.

"It's ok Blue, we're here, you're safe. We're here, your family is here." He shushed.

"Sorry, I know I'm being silly. It's just a bad Dream." Blue whimpered, launching himself at Ink and hugging him.

Dream couldn't hold back a wince at his words.

"It's ok, Blue. It's just a nightmare. It's just a nightmare." Dream soothed.

"C-can you stay with me?" Blue asked.

The three of them had a ritual for whenever one of them had a nightmare. The three of them would all cuddle up together and sleep in the bed of the person who had the nightmare.

Dream nodded and looked to Ink, who then did the same.

Ink layed down, bringing Blue with him as he held him. Dream layed down on the other side of Blue, pressing up to his back as he slung an arm around the other two.

Blue sighed contentedly, happy to have his two best friends back. Unbeknownst to him, the other two shared his sentiment.

And unbeknownst to all of them was the fact that this was the last time they would ever perform this ritual.

And maybe if the lights were on, one of them would have noticed the red mark of a hand on one of Blue's cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wOw tHe foUrTh chAptEr iN a dAy?
> 
> Seriously, how did I obtain this much motivation?
> 
> Roast me for any and all mistakes!


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn some really nice news about the plan against the Dark Sans'!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: you know yesterday was pretty bad, staying up till twelve writing, we're going to go to sleep faster this time, right?
> 
> Also me: Idk mate, it's already one am.
> 
> GOD DAMN- 
> 
> So I know I just posted 4 chapters in the span on 1 day, but LISTEN I HAVE MY JUSTIFICATIONS ALRIGHT!?
> 
> Yesterday I made so many breakthroughs with where I'm going to take this thing. Like, I already knew the majority of the story, but there was this huge gap of plot that I didn't know what to do with, then it hit me!
> 
> So I'm overhyped rn and just wanna wright like non stop.

After Blue woke up from his nightmare last month, all had seemed to go back to normal.

The trio were hanging out again, (albeit not as often as before the fight), Blue hadn't complained a  _ single  _ time about Ink saying something mean, and it was just great.

Even though Dream was still confused as to why Blue said all that stuff about Ink.

The majority of it looking back were quite obviously lies.

Like the part with the slurs. Ink had never used a slur before, why would he start using them all of a sudden? And especially against Blue?

Maybe he genuinely thought Ink said that stuff? Is that possible?

But it didn't matter now, he got his best friends to be close again.

At least that was his mindset last night.

Now… to be frank Dream feels like shit.

Dream had been going constantly to Sci's lab when he was alive, it was actually for therapy.

  
  
  


It was embarrassing.

  
  


_ Really  _ embarrassing actually.

Dream, the guardian of positivity, had a problem with depression.

The fucking irony in that one sentence guys gals and non bianary pals.

  
  


Dream's job was to spread positivity and protect people's hopes and dreams! How was he supposed to do that if he couldn't be positive himself? It was really pathetic.

  
  


He was currently curled up by the window, watching the sunrise.

When he woke up he felt heavy, and tired. But he couldn't fall asleep! He also felt extremely fragile, like the smallest thing could make him cry.

Dream toyed with the tip of his pocket knife as he thought.

He thought of his brother.

  
  


He thought of how him and Nightmare would spend hours playing under the tree of feelings, only stopping when Nightmare would get tired.

Dream always whined about that, still having a lot of pent up energy he needed to burn up.

Nightmare would chuckle, making Dream sit down- ignoring the fact that he was so twitchy he was nearly vibrating- and tell him a story.

It was always a different story every time, and it always managed to grab little Dream's attention- who always fell asleep by the end of it.

Then the villagers came and Dream started spending less time with Nightmare, and more time with them.

Which then led to Nightmare eating a negative apple and becoming corrupted…

  
  
  


To this day Dream didn't know why he did it.

And now he was spreading negativity and destroying AUs and being… evil.

Dream wanted his brother back, so much.

What was- oh god damn it, Dream was now crying.

He chuckled lifelessly to himself as he wiped away his tears.

He stared at the pocket knife log and hard for a second- but then decided to put it away.

  
  


Blue and him just started getting closer, there was no need to get into a fight over that.

He quickly walked out of his room, deciding that it was better if he wasn't alone right now.

  
  


_ Ok now Dream, positive talk. _

Um, he was doing his absolute best at spreading positivity in these trying times!.. or was he? Uh- next point!

Him and Ink found a way to stop the Dark Sans' from destroying AUs!.. but it could easily fail. Just, uh- say the next one?

They just blocked off another AU, getting one step closer to actually stopping them! Or were they-

  
  
  


_ Ok you know  _ **_what_ ** _!?  _

This isn't working.

Dream huffed and hugged himself as he power walked to the food court.

He quickly walked over to the nearest cafè and bought himself a coffee. 

If he was going to be like this the whole day, he might as well have some energy. 

After getting the coffee, Dream turned around to go somewhere- anywhere, but then he bumped into someone.

"Oh, sorry!" He exclaimed, then he noticed who he bumped into.

"Blue, so sorry! I didn't see you there!" He chuckled, helping his fellow guardian who currently looked disoriented.

"Oh, it's ok Dream, didn't see you there either." He smiled back.

But Blue was much smarter than Dream sometimes gave him credit for, he noticed Dream's coffee and the incredibly fake smile.

"Is everything ok?" He asked Dream, very obviously concerned. 

He places an arm on Dream's shoulder, who just laughed and shrugged it off.

"I'm as good as I've always been, Blue!" Dream chirped in an incredibly fake voice.

Blue looked like he was about to argue, but he decided to ignore it.

"So, are you busy today?" Blue asked instead.

"Um, no I don't think so. We just locked another AU, which was the only big thing I had going on recently." Dream replied.

"Oh, ok then cool! Do you maybe wanna go to the private meeting room and just talk and relax?" Blue proposed.

"Yeah, sure!" Dream instantly agreed, internally thankful since he didn't have to fake happiness in front of Blue.

The two went up to the private meeting room, immediately sinking down into the comfortable bean bags.

"How are you doing, honestly now?" Blue asked, putting a hand on Dream's knee sympathetically.

"I, I don't really know. I just feel…. off." Dream admitted, shrugging a little.

Blue smiled sadly at him.

"How've you been?" He asked, covering Blue's hand with his own.

"I've been doing swell!" Blue beamed brightly.

Dream pitifully smiled and leaned back, closing his eyes.

"I'm tired, but I can't fall asleep. This is annoying." Dream whined.

"Maybe I could help with that?" Blue asked.

Dream opened an eye socket and peered over at Blue.

"Help? How?" He asked.

"Move over!" Blue playfully shoved Dream.

Dream obliged and Blue immediately climbed next to Dream, hugging him.

Blue smiled and nuzzled into Dream a little more, having missed hugging the other dearly.

"Is there anything you want to talk about? To make you feel better?" Blue asked Dream, who shrugged.

"Anythings fine" he mumbled as he positioned his head comfortably on Blue's shoulder.

"So, have you guys been doing something about the Dark Sans' at those meetings that I haven't been invited to?" Blue asked innocently.

"Hey, we invited you to one." Dream quietly protested.

"So you're admitting that you've had meetings without me?" Blue pointed out.

Dream wisely chose not to respond.

"It's ok, I get it. I can be really loud, and annoying. And because I keep on zoning out during meetings I'm not that useful anyway." Blue insisted.

"Nu, don't say that." Dream pouted.

"If you say that again I'm either going to hit you, cry, or both." Dream warned, tears already welling up in his eye sockets.

Of course, Blue couldn't see this. But Blue instinctively nuzzled Dream, holding him just a bit tighter, (god Blue we GET IT you are practically a mother, stop flexing on us jeez).

"But have you blocked any AUs? And if so how?" Blue asked, hoping that having Dream just explain something to him would be calming for the other.

"Yeah, we've blocked a couple of AUs already, most notably all the Mafiatale copies. How it works? From what I understand Ink messes around with the code of the AU, making it impossible for anyone from entering or exiting the AU, including Ink himself." Dream started to sleepily nuzzle into Blue's neck.

"Is it just the Mafiatale copies? Or are there any other AUs you've like locked?" Blue asked.

"Um, a couple of copies I can't really remember, even though we locked an original universe today." Dream replied sleepily.

"What Universe, can you remember?" Blue asked curiously.

"Um, Aftertale." Dream responded.

He became confused as he felt Blue tense up.

"A- Aftertale!? Are you sure!?" Blue squeaked out, voice sounding strained.

"Yeah, why?" Dream asked, becoming a bit more concerned.

Blue said nothing. He just detached himself from Dream, ignoring how upset the other came.

Blue still refused to say anything as he stormed out of the room, leaving Dream alone, voiceless, and sobbing.

~~~~

  
  
  


Blue was shaking with badly concealed sobs as he made it in his room.

  
  


He wouldn't be able to enter Aftertale anymore, he wouldn't be able to see Basil anymore. 

Even though the living situation with the other two got immensely better, Ink having even stopped the harassment for the first time since it started, it was still Basil that really got him through the days.

  
  


He reminded him so much of his own brother, and he was so kind, and reminded Blue to take care of himself.

And he helped Blue look at things differently, and be more open- and just a better person in general, ok!?

Blue sank to his knees as he mourned the loss of the best person who entered his life recently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE NEXT CHAPTER, THE NEXT GOD DAMN CHAPTER-
> 
> Might take me a little longer to write :P.
> 
> In chapter 15 we are F I N A L L Y going to see a tiny bit of the aftermath of the failed kidnapping.
> 
> It is a chapter that I have been so excited to write SINCE I STARTED THIS FIC (which was like a week ago), so I'm going to try to take my time (hah, nice joke) to make sure I really do it the justice it deserves.
> 
> Roast me for typos, please. I've been making so many typos and weird wonky sentences recently that it's concerning.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit goes down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know when I said "this next chapter will take me a little longer to write?" I expected it to take me a whole day, maybe even two, but nope! 
> 
> Honestly I am so happy that I finally got to this chapter!
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER
> 
> -There is an attempted kidnapping   
> -Violence is depicted in this chapter   
> -There is an argument

Ink didn't know what he did wrong. After last month Blue distanced himself from the two of them, _again._

  
  


Ink wasn't taking his anger out on Blue anymore, he was inviting him to the board meetings (although he never showed), heck! He even gave Blue a _job!!_

So he didn't know what was the problem here.

~~~~

Dream tried to look into Aftertale.

He tried to see what about it made Blue so upset! But he couldn't find anything.

Of course, Blue wasn't the only one upset about this. Geno and Reaper were both pretty upset, both refusing to speak to Dream ever again, at least according to them.

Apparently Geno still went to the Save Screen quite frequently! It made him feel a sense of comfort.

And since Dream was the one who chose to block off Aftertale, they were mad at him.

But he still didn't understand why Blue was mad.

  
  


~~~~

Blue was fidgeting with the fidget cube again. Ever since Aftertale got blocked off he felt constantly anxious. This isn't the first time in the past few months that he's been like this, but it had stopped with his visits to Basil.

And now the other two prevented him from seeing Basil, how great.

He honestly stopped seeing the other two as friends.

  
  


After they comforted him during his breakdown, he was ecstatic to give them a second chance.

But now? He just doesn't think he can forgive them.

  
  


~~~~

Ink looked at the clock, 1 am.

1 am was a great time to be making new AUs apparently!

He sighed and got back to work.

He had a lot of months work to catch up on.

  
  


~~~~

Dream knew Blue was still upset, he had barely seen Blue since he told him Aftertale was locked.

His depression had gotten really bad since then, and he knew it would just get worse and worse until he reconciled with Blue.

To make Blue feel at least the slightest bit better, almost every night Dream put in front of his door a gift basket. 

He tip-toed to the door and quietly placed the gift in front of Blue's door.

It didn't matter if Blue didn't really like the gift, hopefully it makes him feel better!?

~~~~

  
  


When Blue woke up and saw the gift basket at the door he groaned.

He quickly bent down and picked it up, walking over to his closet and disposing of it in there.

It was nice of Dream to do that for him, but he was still pissed.

Blue sighed and adjusted his bandanna, playing with the fidget cube in his pocket as he exited the room yet again.

He decided to spend some time in the library.

Blue walked through the library, looking for a book to read.

He scanned the titles available, looking for something that would pique his interest.

After a while he found a book on determination, and how that allows humans to manipulate time.

It reminded him of Basil, and his situation- so he decided to read it.

Because it didn't make sense. Why didn't Frisk reset anymore? Was it just a choice or did they not possess the ability anymore.

Blue opened the book, leaning against the bookshelf as he read, still playing with the fidget cube in his pocket.

  
  


~~~~

  
  


Dream woke up to a sharp knock on the door.

  
  


He saw on his clock that it was 12 pm and he groaned.

_Great, he only got 3 hours of sleep._

Dream sleepily walked over to the door, secretly hoping Blue would be there.

He swung open the door to be met face- to face with Ink, who was beaming.

"I finally made some new AUs, Dream! It feels so great!" He laughed and instantly hugged Dream.

The force of Ink running into him was so much that Dream actually went toppling backwards, bringing down Ink with him.

"Oof! Ink, get off please!" Dream wheezed out.

Ink quickly giggled and got off, apologetically dusting off Dream.

"Sorry- it's just, I'm so happy!" Ink squealed, instantly pulling Dream into another hug when he managed to sit up.

"Whoa- I'm glad to see that you're back to your old cheerful self. But isn't this a little excessive?" Dream hesitantly asked the artist.

Ink had admittedly been acting a tiny bit off these past few months, just a tiny bit.

He was more aggressive, and the majority of the times he was feeling something negative, even though Ink was usually a very positive person.

It was really great to see him feeling this happy again.

  
  


"Sorry! It's just that I made so many AUs and-" Ink cut himself off with laughter.

"You really should make AUs more often if it makes you this happy." Dream suggested, and Ink nodded his head.

~~~~

  
  


"Oi, Blue, I've already called your name about ten times!" Blue startled, literally jumping as someone shaked his shoulder.

"Wha- oh, Red! Sorry, didn't know you were there." He panted out, placing a hand on his chest.

"I don't know how that's possible, I kept on shouting your name." Red asked in a confused manner.

"Sorry, sorry. Did you need something?" Blue asked.

"Do ya know anything about the new AUs Ink just created?" Red demanded. 

"Wait… Ink made new AUs?" Blue asked.

"Great, another person that doesn't fucking know. Me n' the boss wanted to know what took the dipshit this long to make a new one, but of course you wouldn't know why." Red grunted, immediately walking away.

Blue was left feeling a little stunned as Red walked away. He shook his head a little and put the book away, leaving the library.

He looked at the time, 2 pm. How long had he been reading that book for?

He wanted to go find Ink, ask about why he made the AUs.

Blue realized something weird the past month. He thought about a conversation with Basil that ended up pointing out something suspicious.

How come the Dark Sans' only destroyed AUs when Ink was actively making new ones?

Like, this whole time Ink hasn't made a single AU, and they haven't destroyed any.

Knowing this, there's a good chance they are going to start destroying AUs again.

Blue had to warn Ink.

But he realized that he hadn't eaten yet, it couldn't hurt to grab a bite to eat before warning him, right?

  
  


~~~~

  
  


Ink was feeling ecstatic about the work he did! He made some new AUs which was absolutely frickin fantastic!

He felt lazy and upset during the period of time that he didn't make AUs. But now that he made some, it really felt like a breath of fresh air.

He looked behind Dream at the clock,

3 pm.

He had made the AUs around 1 am, they had existed for so long!

  
  


How long had it been…?

1,2,3- you know what screw it! Math's dumb anyway.

He smiled at Dream, who was looking over the amount of AUs they now had.

  
  


~~~~

  
  


Ink had made around 400 copies in a night.

_Four. hundred._

Dream didn't know how he wasn't exhausted.

He looked over at the excited artist.

It seems impossible that he wasn't drained. Then again, he was used to making many more AUs than that in a day. But at the same time he hasn't done it in months! It should feel abnormal to him.

He noticed Ink rubbing his chest slightly, looking uncomfortable.

"How are you feeling?" He asked Ink.

"Fantastic!" He exclaimed, laughing.

It was kind of weird to see Ink like this now. It was almost as if he were under the influence of something.

Dream continued looking over the papers.

  
  


There was a knock at the door.

The two of them looked up in shock.

The only other person allowed on this floor was…

"Blue!" Ink exclaimed in happiness as he saw the guardian enter the door.

"Oh… hey Ink." Blue blinked a few times in shock.

"I heard you made some new AUs?" He asked.

"Yup!" Ink laughed.

"Do you mind if I stay here with you two for a bit?" He addressed the two of them.

The both of them agreed that it wasn't a problem, and Blue sat down at the table.

~~~~

  
  


It was around 4 pm when Ink felt it.

A sharp stabbing pain in his chest.

He gasped, clutching his chest.

"The Dark Sans' are destroying an AU." He declared, hastily getting up from the table.

"Are you sure!?" Dream exclaimed, getting up with Blue.

Ink vigorously nodded his head.

  
  


~~~~

They didn't know what universe was being destroyed, so they all looked around a bit.

They finally found it.

~~~~

  
  


Blue kept on zoning out when they were fighting Nightmare.

There were a couple of things he noticed that seemed odd.

First: Nightmare's reaction to hearing them accuse him of destroying all those AUs.

He laughed.

The constantly serious guardian of _negativity,_ **_laughed._ **

That basically confirmed Blue's theory that the Dark Sans' didn't destroy them.

There were just too many at once.

He also found it strange that the only members of Nightmare's gang visible were Dust and Nightmare himself.

_Where were the other three._

~~~~

  
  


_Where are the other three?_

  
  


Dream thought as he fired more arrows.

  
  


He saw three arrows snapped and thrown off somewhere to the side.

_Ah, that's where they are._ He thought as he dodged another tentacle.

  
  


He couldn't help but be enraged at his brother.

He laughed when confronted about what he did to those AUs, and he called them naïve!

Of course, there is a part of Dream that hopes maybe he didn't actually do it.

But that was dumb.

If he didn't do it who did?

~~~~

Ink was getting real tired of this.

His happy mood vanished as soon as he realized that the gang were destroying more AUs.

He glared angrily at the guardian of negativity as he fired another attack.

  
  


It hurt so much.

He silently struggled as he dodged Nightmare's attacks.

  
  
  


Oh!

  
  


And now Dust was attacking him too!

  
  


Great.

It felt like he was breaking apart, like it was his code being broken apart instead of the AUs. And maybe his code was being broken apart in a way…

He couldn't stand this for much longer.

  
  


People were getting hurt.

He was getting hurt!

People were literally dying because of them.

His attacks got faster paced.

  
  
  


He was fighting the two alongside Dream in front of the _dead_ skeleton brothers house.

  
  


Another two people dead because of _them._

  
  


He couldn't tell where Blue was, which was kind of weird. 

He subtly tried looking around from Blue when he heard a shout from beside him.

" _Boss, we did it! Let's get out of here!"_ Horror had yelled while running to them, Cross in close pursuit.

  
  


The AUs code had become visible because of all the tampering, and it was falling apart.

The pain flared up with every scrap of code that fell to the ground.

Ink felt like crying out in pain.

  
  
  


But he couldn't. He had to keep it together.

He had to be strong.

Dream had started dragging him backwards, creating a portal.

Ink wasn't dumb, they were in a dying AU, they needed to get out of there.

But he couldn't think properly.

He saw the genociders escaping.

He saw and felt his creation dying along with everyone inside.

  
  


He saw the footprints left by the murderers in the snow as they got closer and closer to the portal.

His vision turned red as he decided, fuck it!

He only had one thought in his mind as he quickly turned into ink and shot forward.

_I need to make them pay._

He quickly materialized behind the closest one to him- Cross- and used paint to chain him up.

  
  


He couldn't hear anything but a violent ringing as he quickly drew Cross close to his chest, dragging him backwards.

Who cares if this wasn't a part of the plan?

Who cares if he's going to get attacked!?

  
  


He couldn't let them get away with this.

A burst of maniacal pleasure blossomed in him as Dream started helping him to drag cross.

A taunting smile crossed his features as he kept on dragging and dragging and dragging.

He was going to make them pay, he was going to make them feel the pain they were inflicting on him and others.

The silence that had replaced the ringing was deafening, until it wasn't anymore.

  
  
  


His hearing came back and he could hear the back of his skull shattering, almost as if he were glass. Or maybe even porcelain.

  
  


It's funny, he couldn't feel the pain.

He actually couldn't feel anything.

His vision blurred a bit and his head swam.

He could faintly hear yelling in the background, but it sounded muffled almost as if he were underwater.

That was weird, why would he be underwater?

Who was yelling? Who attacked him?

  
  


~~~~

Blue noticed as the Dark Sans' were running to the portal that something was off.

There were only 4 of them.

Cross, Horror, Dust, and Nightmare.

Where was Killer?

  
  


Blue just stood frozen on the side, not knowing what to do.

  
  


But something changed.

He saw Dream and Ink running to the portal, which he vaguely realized he should do too. But it was weird, he felt almost as if this were fake.

Almost like this was a _bad dream._

What happened in the next few seconds only cemented that thought.

Blue watched as Ink and Dream started dragging someone.

Who… who was that?

Blue felt dizzy, rage and despair building up in him as he watched.

Everything felt so surreal, and he found his hands curling into fists, not even remembering willing them to do that.

He found the scene of Snowdin flickering into the scene of the judgement hall, and the sight of Dream, Ink, and Cross turning into him and Error.

He watched as the Dark Sans' became his brother, and before he could even process it he was attacking.

**_"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"_ **He screeched as he summoned his mallet.

Ink looked barely ludic and Dream…

  
  


he looked terrified.

  
  


"B-blue, I can expla-"

"I DON'T WANT YOUR EXPLANATIONS!" He yelled as loud as he could, stalking ever slightly closer.

"Blue!" Dream pleaded.

" _DON'T BLUE ME!"_ He roared as he got closer and closer, readying his mallet as if he were going to attack Dream.

Dream looked terrified, and guilty.

Blue stepped forward again, only to find himself tripping.

He looked down at his feet to see that he had tripped over a piece of Snowdin that was falling apart.

_Right… this AU is falling apart. Forgot that._ Blue thought as he got up.

"Come on, guys! We have to go!" Ink yelled as he gestured to the portal.

Blue noticed that Ink's skull was fully fixed.

"We- we'll explain to you in our room, I promise." Dream looked at Blue.

He just angrily nodded and stepped towards the portal.

  
  


~~~~

  
  


When they made it back to the meeting room, Blue was still pissed.

He paced at the head of the table angrily, using the fidget cube.

Both Ink and Dream were seated at the table, looking hesitantly at the other. It seemed almost as if they didn't want to set off Blue, but it was too late. And Ink probably didn't want his skull shattered again after they just healed him.

It was a near perfect mock picture of the meeting they had all those months ago.

"So, we have a lot to explain, don't we." Dream awkwardly chuckled as he rubbed the back of his skull with his hand.

Blue's head snapped up as he glared at him.

"Yes, you do. So talk." He angrily demanded, immediately looking back to his fidget toy.

"I'll explain." Ink cut off anyone in the room who could have possibly tried to speak.

"So, Blue. A couple of months ago I came up with an idea on how to stop the Dark Sans'." Ink explained.

"We told you a part of the plan, but not the whole thing." He admitted.

"Oh? So you lied to me." Blue spat.

"Well, yeah." Ink admitted sheepishly.

Blue's pacing may have gotten a little faster after that.

"The plan we came up with is nearly identical to the one we told you, there's just a few differences." Ink explained.

"Instead of waiting for the Dark Sans' to 'give up', we were going to make this amazing AU that they would need to go to once we blocked off enough AUs. When they'd get there we'd ambush them and save Killer, Horror, and Dust."

"Even though it seems as if Killer is dead. We know from Reaper that at least one of the gang members have died, and Killer was the only one not present." Dream pointed out.

Blue froze dead in his tracks, burning hot rage rising up in him again.

"When did you come up with this plan?" Blue slowly gritted out.

"The day after the Dark Sans' destroyed all of those AUs." Ink responded.

"You've been lying to me, _for 8 months!?"_ Blue shrieked, whirling around and throwing his hands back in the air.

"Well we didn't have a choice! It's not like you were ever going to be ok with it!" Dream argued as he stood up.

" _There's a reason I'm not going to be ok with it!!"_ Blue yelled back.

"You guys know why I'm so against kidnapping, yet you still made up a kidnapping scheme against my back!" Blue cried as angry tears filled his eye sockets.

Dream yelled back, and the two of them ended up yelling at each other for a solid ten minutes.

That's when Ink decided that he had had enough.

" _Blue_ , as the head of the board I order you to stand down." Ink commanded as he finally rose from his seat.

"What!" Blue looked shocked.

_"Stand. Down."_ Ink demanded of him.

Blue started shaking, looking at Ink with a look of betrayal.

This was the last straw on the camels back.

He finally had enough.

"YOU KNOW WHAT, FUCK YOU!" He yelled as he threw the fidget cube at the wall, shattering it.

Dream looked shocked as he froze along with Ink.

"I HATE THE TWO OF YOU SO MUCH, AND YOU KNOW WHAT!?

I QUIT. I QUIT YOUR STUPID FUCKING BOARD. 

I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU TWO AGAIN IN MY LIFE!" Blue roared as he opened up a portal.

"Blue-" The closing of the portal cut off Dream's words.

~~~~

  
  


Dream stared heartbroken at the area where the portal closed.

Ink walked up to him from behind and put his hand on Dreams shoulder.

  
  


Dream instantly buried his head in Ink's chest, bursting out into sobs.

He was shaking so hard that Ink had to pick him up.

"It's ok, it's ok, shh. You're ok." Ink shushed Dream as he carried him out of the room bridal style.

  
  
  


~~~~

  
  


Blue ran through the portal, but then he made another one.

  
  


And another one.

And another one.

And another one.

And again, and again, and again.

He stopped when he felt that he was exhausting his magic levels.

He looked around at the AU. And he quickly realized that he was in a genocide timeline.

Wait, no. There's no dust.

Blue realized that this was a dying AU.

He still decided to angrily walk around.

  
  


What he did was stupid, he didn't have anywhere to live now.

He didn't have a job anymore.

He didn't have any more friends.

He didn't even grab any of his stuff from his room.

He was so dumb, but he'd do it again in a heartbeat.

There was no way he was going to be ok living in that situation for any more time.

Blue shivered as he walked faster, instinctively tugging on his sleeves.

The AU wasn't crumbling code wise, it was crumbling physically.

Blue looked around the ruins that looked even more ruined than normal.

It looked like no one had lived in it for ages.

As Blue entered the Dreemurs house, it became even more jarringly obvious that nobody lived here anymore.

He quickly ran through the house and out to Snowdin.

He walked and walked and walked, not caring where he was going.

Snowdin proved to be as barren as the ruins did.

Blue just walked and let his mind wander.

Until he noticed something.

There were footsteps in the snow, footsteps not left by him.

And they were fresh.

Blue jumped back on instinct, looking around.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" He asked.

He was met with silence.

Blue noticed that the footsteps went to the shop, and to this AUs Sans and Papyrus' house.

There was also another pair of footsteps next to them… if you could even call them footsteps.

Yeah, sometimes it looked like footsteps.

  
  


Other times it looked like someone was being dragged.

  
  


_Did someone get kidnapped!?_

  
  


Blue got out his mallet as he went to the shop.

He noticed that it was empty, completely empty.

There was neither person nor product in sight.

The inn looked the same as the shop.

Blue headed towards the house, stomach lurching in anticipation.

He inched towards the door, getting ready to fend off a kidnapper.

He jumped from one foot to another a bit, then he slowly pushed the door open.

~~~~

Ink carried Dream to bed, gently laying him down.

Dream seemingly had other plans as he pulled Ink down with him.

"P-please, please s-stay." He sobbed.

"Ok, I'll stay." Ink consoled, cuddling Dream as he pulled the blankets over them.

Dream cuddled closer and sobbed.

"H-how did we fail him so bad!?" Dream hyperventilated.

"This was my fault, I'm sorry." Ink apologized, rubbing Dream's back and gently kissing the top of his skull in an attempt to calm him down.

"We'll fix this, I promise."

Ink could feel his rage building up, though he hid it behind a shield.

He was going to make Blue pay.

_He was going to kill him._

~~_Wait, no._ ~~

~~_He doesn't want to kill Blue._ ~~

~~_He doesn't want to hurt his friend._ ~~

~~_Why is he angry?_ ~~

~~_Why isn't he in control anymore!?_ ~~

~~_Someone help! Help him please!_ ~~

  
  


~~_…_ ~~

~~_…_ ~~

~~_…_ ~~

~~_Who is Ink kidding? He's been stuck like this for years without anyone ever noticing._ ~~

~~_He doesn't want this._ ~~

~~_Help him._ ~~

~~_…._ ~~

~~_Nobody came._ ~~

~~~~

  
  


Blue entered the house to find two skeletons.

One of them was lying down slumped against the wall, looking obviously unconscious.

The other one was forcing them to eat… something in their unconscious state.

Blue's soul beat harder and his breathing became louder as he trembled.

"Who is there!?" The skeleton demanded, jumping back.

The two of them stared at each other for a bit, Blue finally coming to his senses and recognizing them.

"Blue?" The skeleton asked.

Blue couldn't believe it.

  
  
  
  
  
  


He was staring at Fresh…

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


… and Error?

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELCOME TO THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND ARC!
> 
> What a shock! Two characters that I declared dead aren't actually dead!? What's next?
> 
> It feels kinda relieving to finally be 'up to date' so to speak.
> 
> Roast me for mistakes!


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We take a look at Nightmare and his gang, because there totally isn't something else that deserves any attention :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, this time I managed to get the chapter up before midnight!
> 
> I should probably try going at a slower pace so that I don't burn myself out... but who am I kidding that'll never work! :P

Nightmare sighed as he gently rubbed Cross' skull.

  
  


It had taken them what felt like eternity to calm him down.

He may have held Cross a little closer as he thought of what nearly happened.

_ He couldn't believe that Ink would stoop this low. _

He nuzzled Cross yet again, his tentacles blocking him completely from sight. Nightmare never would have guessed that a trip to destroy an AU could go this awry.

Everything seemed surreal ever since they lost Killer.

"Heya, Boss." Nightmare looked up upon hearing the voice.

He saw Dust standing over him with a plate of food and a cup of water in hand.

"I know you don't technically need to eat, but I thought some food might help you in some way." Dust shrugged.

Nightmare quirked a brow bone at this.

"Well, a  _ lot  _ of people tend to stress eat! So I don't know, I thought this could help. Don't judge me!" Dust pouted.

"It's ok. I appreciate it regardless." Nightmare chuckled.

"Who made this? Horror?" Nightmare asked as he took the plate from Dust.

"Obviously, I wouldn't give you something that was inedible." Dust chuckled.

He sat down beside Cross and Nightmare, still holding the cup of water.

"Is this a pasta salad?" Nightmare asked, appreciating the fact that Horror took the time to make one of his favorite foods.

"Yup, Horror said that because it's a comfort food and one of your favorite foods that it was perfect." He shrugged again.

"Whenever you want the water, it's here." Dust reminded Nightmare gently.

"Is Horror making something for Cross too?" Nightmare asked between bites.

"Yup, he's making some fancy chocolate dessert and tacos for fucking days." Dust chuckled as he shook his head.

The two sat in silence for a bit, Nightmare enjoying his food.

They may have had a silent argument, Dust trying to get Nightmare to drink the water, which he may have eventually won.

Then Nightmare's phone buzzed.

1.

2.

3.

4 times.

Dust and Nightmare gave each other a look, the both of them knew what that meant.

"Can you take Cross? Just in case?" Nightmare asked Dust, who nodded holding the prepared blanket.

Nightmare passed off Cross to Dust, who quickly wrapped him up in the blanket.

He picked up his phone with a tentacle, looking over the texts he felt confused.

Then he felt an emotion he barely ever felt- hopeful.

The text messages were a code, but the last one wasn't.

It contained coordinates.

He didn't recognize the number, but at the same time the only people who knew his number and the code were his boys, Error, and Fresh.

His soul skipped a beat as he thought about at least one of them being alive.

"I need to go." He informed Dust, who nodded.

"Be careful, Boss." He pleaded.

Nightmare just nodded and quickly bolted off to his room where he made the portal in peace.

~~~~

  
  


When he got there he found himself being confused.

They were in an abandoned UnderDecay copy, and he could feel the presence of 3 people.

Is this a trap?

He slipped in the shadows, moving towards Snowdin town where he could feel the souls.

The sight he was greeted with was a shocker to say the least.

Blue was carrying Error bridal style, looking around impatiently. And Fresh was seemingly leaning on Blue for support.

He instantly shot forward, pulling Fresh behind him with a tentacle.

" **What are you doing here, guardian?** " He hissed, startling Blue.

"It's ok, Nightmare. Blue-brah over here was just helping." Error assured the ~~fatherly~~ guardian.

"Why?" Nightmare demanded.

"Why what? Why I helped?" Blue asked.

" **Yes.** " Nightmare hissed again.

"Why did you save Cross? How did Error end up like that? What did you do for Fresh to say you're helping? And  _ why  _ are you helping?" Nightmare bombarded Blue with questions.

"I saved Cross because what Ink and Dream tried to do was unacceptable, period. And I apologize to both you  _ and  _ Cross on their behalf." Blue told Nightmare.

  
  


Nightmare could feel what Blue was feeling, this being one of the few occasions the other had let it down around him.

He could feel how genuine Blue was being.

"How Error ended up like this? I have no clue, he was like this when I got here. You'll have to ask Fresh." The truth, again.

"Fresh is extremely drained of energy and does not have a cellphone. I helped him carry Error out here and contacted you using my phone." Another truth.

"I'm helping because I first of all care about both Error and Fresh." That was  _ definitely  _ true.

"And secondly, everyone deserves a little help sometimes. What kind of a shit person would I be if I refused to do anything?" Blue was proving to be a very truthful person.

Nightmare looked back at Fresh, who was nodding along to Blue's words.

"Won't Ink and Dream be mad if they find out you're helping us? You are a council member afterall." Nightmare asked.

"I quit the  _ board _ . I never want to see their fucking faces ever again." Another tru- wait a minute did he just swear!? With  _ Fresh  _ here?

"Fresh!? How are you feeling!?" He quickly asked said skeleton.

"Drained, but there's no need to worry about me, pop." Fresh assured, though with the way he was wobbling it wasn't very comforting.

"I'll take Error." He told Blue- who looked hesitant for a second. But he still ended up nodding.

He felt so relieved to finally have the destroyer back- along with Fresh of course.

But there was still a couple of questions lingering on his mind.

"You quit the board." He fixed his past mistake.

"Why? And what are you going to do, just relax in your AU now?" Nightmare asked.

"I quit because I was being lied to during the span of 8 months pertaining to the plain of kidnapping your gang members. I don't want to associate with someone who would willingly do that." Blue said in clear disdain.

"And my AU is destroyed; I don't really have anywhere to go. So I don't really know what I'll do." Blue shrugged.

Nightmare had been planning on leaving after asking those questions, but it didn't sit right with him.

He could tell that Blue was being truthful during all of this, and he had useful insider information.

Blue also reminded him of his boys…

_ God damn it. _

"One last question." Nightmare informed Blue, who crossed his arms and nodded.

"Blue, would you willing to become on of my boys? We won't make you do anything you don't want to do- like destroy an AU. You will have food, shelter, company, and any other supplies. You really helped us out today, I want to be able to repay you. And you'll be able to check up on Error if you so desire." Nightmare proposed.

Blue stiffened, looking shocked. Then his eye lights lit up with suck hope, and such  _ joy _ that Nightmare knew he wouldn't regret his decision.

But then it died down a little.

"Are you absolutely 100 percent sure?" Blue asked him. "I'm quite the handful." Blue explained. 

"That's ok." Nightmare shrugged.

"We have six pairs of hands and a bunch of tentacles for a reason." He grinned, trying to hopefully put some of Blue's worries at ease.

It worked, because the other nodded.

"Ok." Blue agreed.

"This is great and all, but do you think we could get back to the hideout? I don't feel so rad right now." Fresh mumbled.

Nightmare immediately picked him up with a couple of tentacles, making a portal to the hideout.

He gestured to Blue to follow him- who looked shocked for a moment before coming to his senses and following Nightmare through.

When they made it through the portal they were greeted with Dust and Cross cuddling on the couch- the latter having woken up.

And Horror hovering nearby with three plates in hand.

The three looked on in shock at the four intruders.

"Is that Error and Fresh!?" Cross asked.

"They're alive!?" Dust exclaimed.

"What is  _ he  _ doing here!?" Horror demanded.

That made Blue's intrusion jarringly obvious to the other two as they stared in shock.

Blue had cowered slightly at Horrors anger, hiding behind Nightmare.

"Boys, I need you to listen up. This is serious." Nightmare informed the others, who were slightly glaring at Blue.

"As you may know, this is Blue. The newest member of our gang."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You are welcome. This chapter is the reason I wrote about the 8 months of torture Blue went through.
> 
> Also, does anyone else get this weird thing where you associate a specific color or colors with a few specific fics!? Idk that could just be me.
> 
> Roast me for any and every mistake in here!


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see what happens after the last chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've been thinking of writing a separate fic full of one shots, alternate timelines/ endings, etc? It'd probably be a mixture of requests, canon moments that won't be in the main fic, stuff from before the incident, and me exploring non-canon what ifs. Should I do it?

Nightmare's words were met with silence.

"Are you sure about this!?" Horror demanded.

"Yeah, did you even think this through, boss?" Dust kept his eyes lights on Blue.

"Honestly? No. _But_ I am sure of this. We owe him." Nightmare stated.

"He has done a lot to help us in the span of one day. Besides." A tentacle whirled around to face Blue.

**"I don't think he'd be dumb enough to betray us.** " 

Blue gulped and shook his head, prompting Nightmare to smirk and put away the tentacle.

"The important thing right now is getting Error and Fresh some help." Nightmare said, instantly making everyone shoot into action.

Cross and Dust quickly got off the couch, laying down the blankets for someone to be able to lay down comfortably.

Horror put down the food and quickly ran to the kitchen- grabbing one of their many first aid kits.

Nightmare put Error down on the couch, inspecting him gently.

Nothing seemed to be wrong with him… weird.

Nightmare turned to face Fresh to ask about Error- but he found that Fresh had fallen asleep in his tentacles.

He placed Fresh down gently on the other side of the couch, looking over him for any external injuries.

There was a few scratches, but other than that there wasn't really anything else.

Horror rushed over with the first aid kit and grabbed out a tub of healing gel.

Nightmare grabbed the healing gel from Horror and scooped up some, gently applying it on every visible scratch.

"We should probably check for any more under his shirt and on his legs when he wakes up." Nightmare declared, standing up from his position of kneeling by the couch.

The others all nodded their heads in agreement.

"Um, Fresh mentioned something about being extremely low on magic, and not being able to remember the last time he himself…. ate…" Blue's voice became smaller as he lost his confidence when everyone else turned to look at him.

Nightmare nodded, fury evident in his eyes.

"Horror, can you make a magic potent liquid that I can administer by syringe? I don't want to wake him up, but we need to get his magic levels back up before he ends up dusting or something." Nightmare commanded.

Horror nodded and went to the kitchen to make the liquidized food.

"Blue, what do you know about Fresh and Errors conditions?" Nightmare asked him.

"Um, not much. All I know is that Fresh said they were stuck there for months and that Error was passed out for all of them." Blue explained.

"Oh! He also mentioned that the majority of the food there went to Error, yet his condition still didn't change." Blue remembered.

The gang all looked worried at that.

"Could it be a soul problem?" Cross asked.

"We should check." Nightmare murmured, moving forward to summon Error's soul.

But he couldn't.

"Why can't I summon his soul!?" He asked, shocked.

More worried glances were passed around the room.

"I don't think he has enough energy for that." Horror explained, coming back from the kitchen with a couple of syringes filled with a weird white substance.

"There is obviously something wrong with his soul, though. There are no external injuries, so the soul is the only other option." Dust pointed out.

Everyone else nodded at that.

"We are going to need to give the both of them one syringe full every other hour." Horror explained while prepping two syringes.

"Night, can you give Error the food? I'll give Fresh his dose." He asked Nightmare, who nodded in response.

Horror handed Nightmare the syringe as he passed him to get to Fresh.

Nightmare gently pried open Error's mouth, administering the syringe full of food.

Horror finished giving Fresh the food around the same time.

"Are you sure that stuff's edible, Horror?" Dust asked.

"Still more edible than anything you could make." Horror quipped back.

That may have gotten a snort out of Cross.

"I mean, you're not wrong there." Dust snickered.

Horror grabbed the empty syringe from Nightmare and went to the kitchen to put them to soak.

"Blue, I have some more questions for you regarding things you've said, and I'm sure my boys also have some questions." Nightmare notified him.

Blue nodded his head.

"S-sure, ask away." He stuttered.

~~~~

  
  


They all sat around the dining table for the interrogation. But Horror still decided to set food out on the table.

Just because it's an interrogation doesn't mean they can't eat!.

On the table were the tacos he made and some chocolate pudding, (both having been made for Cross.)

Horror and Cross both started eating, while Dust, Nightmare, and Blue chose not to.

"Why did you decide to join the gang? Are you still a part of the board?" Dust asked.

Blue shifted nervously.

"I um, I joined the gang because Nightmare offered and I didn't really have anywhere else to go… Also I wanted to be kept up to speed with Error and Fresh's conditions. And I quit the board" Blue explained, studying the table.

"Why'd you quit the board?" Cross asked, words slightly muffled as he chewed his food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Nightmare chided softly.

Cross just gave Nightmare a cheeky grin in response.

"I quit the board because of a lot of different things. The main one being that I was lied to for 8 months straight, if the… incident at the Undertale copy didn't happen, Ink and Dream would have never told me what their true intentions were!" Blue exclaimed.

He was…. kinda uncomfortable with the interrogation, but he understood. He was a member of the board, the same one that just tried to kidnap one of their gang members the same day. He doesn't expect them to trust him just like that.

"Why'd you save Cross?" Dust asked.

Cross choked slightly on his food, looking at Blue with wide eyes. It was obvious that he didn't realize who saved him.

  
  


"And what are their true intentions?" Nightmare added.

Horror just watched their interaction with interest as he munched on his third taco.

"I saved Cross because what Ink and Dream tried to do was messed up!" Blue exclaimed angrily.

"Kidnapping is never ok, it _doesn't_ matter who you're kidnapping, it's unjustifiable. I wasn't just going to stand there and watch as it happened." Blue explained, still a tiny bit mad.

"And about their true intentions, that's a little more... complicated? Not really, but it's a bit of a longer story." Blue nervously rambled.

He had four pairs of curious eyes on him, so he continued explaining.

"Around 5 months ago, Ink and Dream told me a plan… about how to stop you guys." Blue explained.

That statement was met with a lot of scoffs.

"The plan was to slowly block off AUs so that you guys wouldn't have needed resources anymore. Then you guys would miraculously give up. I always thought it was a dumb plan." Blue chuckled self deprecatingly.

"It was! Because it wasn't their actual plan, it was one made to fool me since they knew I'd be against their actual plan." Blue started getting worked up again.

"What's their actual plan?" Nightmare asked, concerned.

It didn't sit right with him that the two of them had to _lie_ to Blue about their plan because they knew he wouldn't be ok with it.

"After they blocked off enough AU, they were going to make this- quote on quote 'amazing AU' as to lure you guys in. When you guys got there? They were planning on kidnapping Dust, Horror, and Cross." Blue's explanation was met with outrage from said skeletons.

"Are you kidding me!?"

"We help this multiverse and _this_ is the thanks we get?!"

"Have those two gone insane!?" 

Nightmare stayed oddly silent.

"How long have you known about this plan!?" Horror demanded.

"I was just told about it, I immediately quit after that." Blue explained.

"Have they started putting this plan in action?" Nightmare asked.

Blue nodded his head.

"Ink tampers with the code of an AU, making it inaccessible to anyone attempting to enter. He's already done this to all the Mafiatale copies and Aftertale. I don't know if there are any other AUs that have been blocked off." Blue explained.

They all stayed silent after that.

"What do we do about Error and Fresh?" Cross finally broke the silence.

"We keep a close eye on them and continue to make sure they get the food doses. After that, I guess we'll just see." Horror shrugged.

"Actually, may I speak about something concerning them that confuses me?" Blue timidly asked.

Nightmare immediately nodded, the other three stayed silent.

"The confusing thing is that Reaper proclaimed the two of them dead around 3 months ago." Blue told the gang.

"That doesn't make any sense." Cross said with a frown.

"I know." Blue agreed.

The other three looked confused too, but chose not to say anything.

"Um, do you mind if I ask something else? It's something that's been weighing on my mind for a while." Blue meekly asked.

Nightmare shot a glare at Horror, who looked like he was about to deny Blue.

"Of course, you're one of us now. What do you want to know." He asked Blue.

"How did those AUs get destroyed? It's quite obvious that you guys didn't do it. And why _do_ you destroy AUs?" Blue asked, relieved that he was _finally_ going to get answers 

"Those two questions actually tie into each other." Nightmare told Blue.

"I'm going to explain this, the two of you can start eating." He addressed Blue and Dust.

Dust shrugged and started eating.

Blue just sat there and (in)patiently waited for Nightmare to explain, toe tapping under the table.

"You see, everything has a limit. Including the multiverse. Your friend, Ink-"

"Ink is not my friend and I would appreciate it if you never referred to the two of us as friends ever again." Blue cut off Nightmare.

  
  


The other three were shocked at Blue's audacity, cutting off _Nightmare_ like that, but Nightmare himself chose to ignore it.

"Okay then… when Ink creates an AU, he fills up the multiverse slightly. When the multiverse has too many AUs, in a sort of defense mechanism it will infect an AU with a sort of virus. This virus will kill off the AU, but it will infect other AUs first. Error's job as the god of destruction is to destroy AUs when Ink goes overboard to avoid that situation.

We offered to help him, but we failed.

As you may have inferred, there ended up being too many AUs anyway. We were just lucky that the whole multiverse didn't end up being erased." Nightmare explained.

Blue stared at him in shock. 

_Ink… Ink caused all those AUs to die?_

"Must be such a shock, huh? This entire time you've been blaming everything on us." Dust growled.

They sat in silence for a bit, everyone eating except for Blue.

Horror threw him a couple of offended glares.

"We didn't poison the food, you know." Nightmare pointed.

"I know, I'm just not hungry." Blue sighed, fidgeting.

He really wished that he didn't destroy the fidget cube Dream bought him. But then again, it was a gift from _Dream…_

Nightmare must have felt how anxious he was, because he sighed.

"Horror, can you show Blue to one of the guest rooms?" Nightmare asked him.

"Why me?" Horror huffed.

"Because you're already done eating." Nightmare pointed out.

"Fine." Horror gritted out, standing up.

"Let's go." He cocked his head to the side.

Blue hastily stood up, following Horror out of the room.

~~~~

They walked down the dim halls, Blue looking around in wonder at the sheer size of the place. It was all very elegant.

Horror led Blue down a flight of stairs to a lower level. 

This level was slightly different than the other one.

It was much colder, for starters. This level managed to somehow be darker than the other, probably from the lack of windows.

Blue shivered slightly, and he noticed Horror trying to repress one too.

"Just so you know, I don't agree with Nightmares decision to let you join. I don't care what he says, you'll never be one of us." Horror made his opinion known.

"Ok." Blue said, his voice being much smaller than he intended for it to be.

"Here's your room." He announced, the two of them stopping by a door.

Blue swung the door open.

The room was quite small, consisting of only a bed and a dresser. It didn't make sense that for such a big build it was such a small room.

He opened his mouth to say something- but Horror beat him to the chase.

"Don't bother me." He left down the hall.

Blue entered the room, closing the door behind him. It was absolutely freezing inside.

He shivered as he rubbed his arms, finally remembering to put up an emotional shield.

Blue felt like crying, but he had to stay strong.

  
  


Did he end up entering a worse situation than before?

~~~~

Nightmare watched Blue and Horror leave the room.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Dust asked him.

"No, but it's too late to take it back. Besides, he can give us insider information about stuff we had no knowledge of previously." Nightmare responded.

"What if he's lying about the stuff he told us?" Cross asked.

"His emotions would probably have betrayed him. There is a slight chance that they wouldn't have, but I doubt it." Nightmare assured Cross.

"I should go and bring Fresh and Error to their rooms." Nightmare excused himself from the table.

"I'll help!" Cross offered.

Nightmare was about to protest, he knew how much Cross liked tacos. But reading his emotions alerted Nightmare that Cross was anxious about something- probably Blue.

"Alright, thank you Cross." He smiled.

Cross jumped up from the table, running over to the couch to assist Nightmare.

"I can carry Fresh." He offered as Nightmare picked up Error.

"Are you sure?" Nightmare asked while Cross nodded.

Cross scooped Fresh up gently, following Nightmare out in the hall.

"He's lighter than I remember him being." Cross whispered as they walked down the hall.

"Well if what Blue said is true then it makes sense." Nightmare pointed out.

They walked to the rooms in silence.

They deposited Error first, his room being closer than Fresh's was.

After Cross managed to get Fresh settled in bed too, he asked the question.

"Can I talk to you?" He asked Nightmare.

"Sure, Cross. What do you need" Nightmare asked.

"C-can we go to my room?" He asked.

"Of course." Nightmare nodded.

When the two of them arrived in Cross' room, Nightmare shut the door softly.

Cross was extremely anxious, looking at the ground as he played with the sashes around his chest.

"What is it, Cross?" Nightmare asked him gently.

"I'm s-sorry for being such a screw up." Cross sniffled.

"Cross? What are you talking about!?" Nightmare asked in shock.

  
  


"If it wasn't for Blue Ink would've taken me, and I didn't do anything. I'm sorry, if I wasn't s-so." 

Nightmare cut Cross off, pulling him into a hug.

  
  


"It's ok, it's ok it's not your fault." He told Cross.

"Are you sure?" Cross asked timidly.

"Look at me." Nightmare to Cross, pulling back from the hug.

"You are not a 'screw up', what happened to you was normal, and your reaction was normal." He assured Cross.

"Ok…" Cross whispered, hanging his head.

"I should probably thank Blue, shouldn't I?" Cross asked.

"When you're ready." Nightmare told him.

"What if he's a spy for the Star Sans'?" Cross asked.

"If he even thinks of betraying us, I'll kill him, ok? Nobody messes with my boys." Nightmare told Cross.

"Won't Error and Fresh be upset by that, though?" Cross asked.

"Probably, so let's just hope it doesn't come to that."


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get an update on Error, among other things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I actually made the separate fic. It's called The entities puppet show extras! And it's the next fic in The entities puppet show series!
> 
> It has a lot of miscellaneous stuff surrounding this multiverse. Currently the only real chapter I have up is a canon one-shot set before the collapse.
> 
> A-And guess what!? I tried my hand at writing something mildly fluffy! 
> 
> I may or may not have the next canon oneshot planned, and it may or may not be completely fluff. It also may involve Blue. ;)

Around 5 days had passed since Blue had joined the gang, bringing Fresh and Error along with him.

Error hadn't woken up at all during this time, and Dust was extremely worried.

The Destroyer was immortal, sure. But he wasn't invincible! Stuff like magic exhaustion could still hurt him!

Dust had poured over books on magic exhaustion and how to remedy it for hours.

The majority of the steps were stuff they were already doing!

Step 1: Makes sure the monster gets a lot of sleep and doesn't move around too much.

_Yeah no shit have they been doing this step!_ Error hasn't woken up a single time, and had been sleeping for the majority of the _8 months_ him and Fresh were missing!

Step 2: Be sure to get the monster a lot of full hp or magic potent food.

They have been administering extremely magic potent liquidized food every other hour for _5 days._ Again, they were most certainly doing this step.

Step 3: Make sure they don't use their magic any-.

Ok _first of all_ this is pretty damn obvious, is it not?

ALSO ERROR HAS BEEN ASLEEP THIS _WHOLE FUCKING TIME, HE HASN'T BEEN ABLE TO USE HIS DAMN MAGIC._

Dust groaned loudly, face tabling as hard as possible.

"Ow." Dusts voice came out lifeless.

  
  


At least Fresh is awake…

Fresh had been actually spending a lot of time with Blue.

  
  


_Blue…_

  
  


Things with Blue were quite difficult. 

On one hand, Dust wanted to get to know him better. Blue seemed really kind, even though he acted really quiet around half of the time. And Dust was admittedly curious to know more about why he left the other two.

Something must have happened between them. Before he left them it was a common known fact through the multiverse that Blue, Ink, and Dream were inseparable.

They were extremely close and you could tell that from a quick glance.

So why would he leave that?

On the other hand he had been their enemy for such a long time, even though he hadn't known about the kidnapping plan and he hadn't been a part of it, he was still on the same side with the people who were. And maybe he trying to obtain information about them all and were going to betray them!

So Dust was confused.

He was also confused by Nightmare's reckless behavior.

Every single one of the gang were shocked when they had learned about Nightmare letting Blue in. He let Blue into the gang no strings attached, no second thoughts for their safety no _nothing!_

Dust didn't know why anything that was currently going on _was_ going on, and it was exhausting.

After the situation in his timeline Dust was admittedly a control freak.

He hated not being in control of a situation. He hated not having a solution.

He just hated every single damn thing about their situation right now.

Dust grabbed another textbook about magic and all its properties and consequences.

~~~~

Blue didn't know what to make of the gang yet.

They were kind, to each other. But not exactly to him.

Like- ok! It wasn't _nearly_ as bad as the situation with Ink was.

With Dust, Cross, and Nightmare it wasn't really bad. They were all polite to him, but they were more so distant, and they didn't really choose to spend time with him. And that's ok! Blue gets it.

Knowing how important they are to the multiverse, and how Blue and the others treated them…

Blue wouldn't trust himself either.

Horror was the only one who ever said anything mean about him, then again what he said wasn't _so_ bad.

He had heard it all before, and much much worse.

Ink had been much more cruel with his words than Horror ever was.

  
  


But Blue was the closest with Fresh.

The two of them had already known each other before this, so they still got along pretty well.

Though the two of them spent the time by Error's side. 

And the Destroyer was looking worse day by day.

He had previously had this sickly blue flush on his face, now it was gone. If anything there was less color in his face than normal.

He rarely ever moved, or made a noise; but the few times he did was extremely concerning.

He would sometimes spasm randomly, thrashing as if in pain. These episodes lasted for around ten seconds. Blue was tempted to call them seizures, but something about them seemed off. Calling them seizures felt wrong.

And the loudest noises he made were raspy breaths, and sporadic violence coughs.

They couldn't find any physical injuries, which meant it had to be something with his soul, which was worse. 

But they wouldn't even be able to see his soul until his magic levels were raised.

Blue was extremely worried, especially considering how Error and Fresh got in their situation in the first place.

According to Fresh the two had been AU hopping, when Error froze.

He had started gasping- as if in pain- and promptly collapsed.

The AU they had been in was corrupted by the virus, fortunately Fresh managed to get them out of there. But if Error hadn't collapsed, and if Fresh hadn't quickly moved to get him some help, they wouldn't be here.

Fresh had gone to one of the farthest AUs he could find, depleting his magic levels.

There hadn't been that much food there, and the majority of it needed to go to Error because of his condition, which was gradually getting worse.

And that's how the two of them ended up there when Blue had found them. Where Fresh gave Blue Nightmare's number and asked him to text Nightmare something specific.

Nightmare had come after that and yeah, you know the rest of the story.

At the very least Fresh was getting better!

He managed to get his energy back, and his magic levels were restored! Even though Nightmare still restricted Fresh from using his magic.

It's actually kind of funny, Fresh wasn't a part of Nightmare's gang, but Nightmare still treated him as such. It was the same with Error now that Blue's thinking of it.

~~~~

2 days later and Error was still not waking up.

The gang, Fresh, and Blue were all huddled around Error's bed.

Blue and Fresh were chatting quietly as they practically leaned over Error, sitting on the edge of his bed.

Cross was sitting with Dust at the bottom of their feet, looking over a book with information on what might be happening with Error.

Horror was in the southwest corner of the room, preparing the food for Error.

And Nightmare was in the southeast corner of the room leaning against the wall.

He was reading some book, focused solely on that.

All of them were really concerned for the glitch.

As Blue and Fresh finished their conversation, Horror came over with the food.

"Move over." He told the four of them gruffly.

All four of them immediately obliged, scrambling away to let Horror do his thing.

He quickly administered the food orally, everyone crowding around him to anxiously await the results.

Apparently Blue got too close to Horror for his liking, because Horror snapped at him.

"Why don't you get the he(ely) away from me, huh?" He barked at Blue one he finished giving Error the medicine.

"Sorry." Blue put his hands up placatingly.

Horror snarled at Blue, about to say something when Fresh butted in.

"That's not fair, broseph. Both Dust and Cross were closer to you then Blue was. If you're gonna snap at him why don't you snap at the rest of us." Fresh chided, crossing (heh) his arms over his chest.

"But that's different." Horror protested.

"How's it different?" Fresh asked.

"They are part of the gang, Blue isn't one of us." Horror argued.

Fresh opened his mouth angrily to protest, but Nightmare did it for him.

"That is not true. Blue is one of us now, Horror. Yes, he may have been one of them. And yes, we should still be weary around him. But that _does_ not mean that we treat him like garbage. We _will_ show him the same amount of respect we show each other. Let's not lower ourselves to their standards." Nightmare growled.

He quickly closed his book, turning to the door.

"I'm going to go work on some paperwork. I expect you to stop making snide comments towards Blue, Horror." And with that Nightmare left.

Everyone stared at the closed door, mouths slightly agape.

_Maybe being here won't be as bad as it originally seemed._


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue finds out that not everyone in the gang necessarily distrusts him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got chapter 19 out on the 19th, nice.

Blue was pacing around his room.

  
  


He couldn't focus otherwise, and he was just too hyper to sit still. It also helped a lot with the fact that he was extremely stressed, so he had an outlet for the stress. And it was extremely cold in this room!

Which again, he was a  _ skeleton,  _ the cold rarely affected him. Imagine how cold this room must have been.

Blue paced and paced by the foot of his bed, worrying about Error.

He always saw Error as this strong figure who couldn't be taken down, someone to fear.

(These thoughts were the most prominent before Error helped him with his panic attack.)

So seeing him so helpless was like a slap back to reality. It was really worrying.  _ What on earth could be causing him to be like this!? _

Blue pondered yet again, practically wearing a hole in the carpet.

Then again, you probably wouldn't see it since the room was so dark.

There was only one light, an old torch that you literally had to light up with flames, and it didn't help that everything here was a dark color.

The carpet? Black. 

The bed sheets? Black.

The wardrobe and the bed frame? The darkest wood they could possibly find.

The walls were also black.

  
  


Are you seeing a pattern here?

Blue liked the hideout, it was a really nice place! But he absolutely detested this room.

He paced around for a while, until he heard the door knob turning.

When the door opened he could see Cross standing there, holding a box underneath his left arm.

He looked zoned out, until he saw Blue.

Cross clearly didn't expect to see Blue there, because he jumped back.

"Blue!? What are you doing here?" He asked Blue.

"Um, this is my room. So shouldn't it make sense that I'm here?" Blue hesitantly asked.

Cross looked shocked for a moment, multi colored eye lights shrinking a bit, then his expression turned to one of distaste.

"Did someone tell you to take this room?" He asked.

"Yeah, Horror did." Blue responded, frowning in confusion.

"Son of a." He murmured under his breath.

"This room whilst decorated like a bedroom, isn't meant to be used as one. We use this room as a storage room." Cross explained, walking over to a wall and opening a closet that Blue hadn't even known was there.

"Oh, sorry." Blue mumbled.

"What? Don't apologize! This isn't your fault. How were you supposed to know?" Cross asked.

He deposited the box into the closet.

"Come on, grab any and all personal items that you have here, I'm getting you an actual room." Cross explained, waiting for Blue near the door.

Blue stared at Cross for a second, then he quickly went to the dresser.

He pulled out some hand me downs he had gotten from the gang and his phone, he then followed Cross to the door.

"Let's go." Cross cocked his head to the side.

Blue nodded, quickly following him down the hall.

"I'm guessing your room being there is the reason you've gotten lost down here so many times?" Cross asked.

"Yeah." Blue admitted sheepishly.

"This place is so big, how don't you get lost in here all the time!?" Blue exclaimed.

Cross chuckled and shook his head.

"Trust me, I used to get lost in this place all the time when I first came here." Cross laughed louder.

"The others have so many stories of me getting lost they could use to embarass me." He shook his head again, a tiny bit fonder.

"Ooh, I should go ask them for those." Blue teased.

"Don't you dare, asshole!" Cross exclaimed, lightly hitting Blue in his arm.

Blue laughed the first genuine laugh in months.

The both of them stayed in silence the rest of the way to the stairs, where Cross decided he needed to say something.

"Hey, I never really thanked you for saving me. So, thank you for that. It means a lot." Cross thanked Blue, a sincere smile on his face.

"There's really no need for thanks, anyone would have done the same thing in my position." Blue tried to wave off Cross' apology, but his hands were full.

"That's not true. The majority of people wouldn't have saved me. They would have seen two protectors dragging away one of the 'evil dark Sans'', and they would have supported the decision. But you ignored who I was and who they were, you turned on your friends to help me. Most people wouldn't have done that. Thank you." Cross made sure Blue understood.

"Oh, um thanks I guess?" Blue nervously responded.

"The response is usually 'you're welcome', but thank you works too I guess." Cross laughed.

Blue immediately flushed, embarrassed by his slipup.

"S-sorry." He stumbled over his words embarrassed.

"It's fine, mistakes happen." Cross chuckled it off.

"Here's the proper floor." Cross stopped them on the second floor.

He pushed the door open, stepping aside but still holding it open for Blue.

"Thanks." Blue mumbled as he stepped through.

"No prob Bob." Cross quickly responded.

"So, let me show you whose room is whose." Cross started.

"This door here is… someone's old room. My advice? Don't get anywhere near it unless you want to be attacked." Cross informed, pointing at a door on the right wall. It was the closest door to the staircase.

_ Killers old room.  _ Blue could only infer.

"This room is Horrors, again I advise for you to stay away." Cross pointed at the next door. 

It must suck a tiny bit to be sleeping next to the bedroom of your dead friend…

"This room here is obviously Error's bedroom." Cross pointed to the room Error was currently occupying, lowering his voice slightly.

"And the room next to it is Fresh's." Cross pointed to the next door.

"If they don't live here, why do they have rooms?" Blue asked.

"Those rooms used to be guest bedrooms, but we let Error and Fresh crash in them, so we just gave them the rooms." Cross shrugged.

They walked a bit further down the hall and Cross pointed to the first door on the left side.

"This is Dust's room. If you ever get his permission to enter there, make sure you have at the very least a pair of safety goggles." Cross warned.

"Safety goggles? Why?" Blue asked, tilting his head.

"Dust's hobby is chemistry. So it's always necessary to take some level of precaution when in his room, since he almost always has some sort of chemical concoction in there. You know what they say; better safe than sorry." Cross shrugged again.

The two of them walked over to the next door.

"This is my room. And the next room here isn't currently occupied, so if you'd like you can take it." Cross offered.

"Sure, thanks." Blue smiled at Cross.

"It's the least I can do, you don't deserve to stay in that sh(epp)y storage room." Cross looked a tiny bit angry while saying that. 

Blue walked over to the room Cross said was available, when Cross stopped him.

"If you ever need anything, my room is right next door. I'm always happy to help." He offered.

"Oh, really? Thanks." Blue thanked him yet again.

"It's the least I can do." Cross assured him.

"Can I actually ask you about something?" Blue asked.

"You just did, but you're free to ask another question." Cross had a shit eating grin on his face.

"Is there a room where I can use my magic? Like a training room or something. I want to have a way to let out some pent up frustration." Blue explained.

"Yeah, there's a training room on the first floor. If you want I can show you where it is? Whenever you're comfortable that is." Cross proposed.

"Sure, do you mind if I quickly put my stuff away first?" Blue asked, looking towards the door.

"No problem, I'll be in my room when you're ready." Cross jabbed a thumb back at his door.

Blue smiled.

_ Looks like at least one person here has accepted him. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sips tea*, so posting every day has been fun, I'm not going to lie. But it also seems like a way to quickly burn myself out.
> 
> So I'm going to try to post on a schedule, yay!
> 
> I want to try posting as of now, on Sundays and Thursdays. This may change if I need more/less time to write.
> 
> The way I'm going right now is going to cause me to burn out fast, so I need to stop doing it. And also using this time to kinda get my stuff together would be nice.
> 
> The reason this could be kinda hard is the fact that I find myself not being able to stop writing. So I'm going to try posting stuff in the extras to combat this
> 
> Let's see how long I actually manage to stick to the schedule for lmao.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get news from the Star Sans'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It feels so damn weird to finish writing a chapter and not immediately post it. I... honestly don't know what to think of it.
> 
> I have extremely low self esteem, and I absolutely hate my writing. But when I'd immediately post the chapters, that wasn't an issue and I didn't feel like that. But now that I don't immediately post the chapters? I've been struggling with that. :(
> 
> Like, I absolutely DESPISE this chapter, and I kinda didn't want to post it. Ugh why's my brain gotta be like this?
> 
> But at the same time, I know this will be good for me! I can confidently say that this story will have a bare minimum of 30+ chapters! Because doing this helped me with organizing a timeline for the story so. Idk, still might mess around with posting dates in the future.

Nightmare found that half of his boys didn't want to be near Blue, which was understandable really. But at the same time, it wasn't really fair for some of his boys to treat Blue the way they were treating him.

The biggest example here would be Horror. Horror had been making rude comments towards Blue and had targeted him in other ways- such as giving him the cold old  _ storage room  _ to sleep in.

Nightmare got  _ why  _ Horror did it, he didn't want a former Star Sans to sleep next to them, but at the same time, Blue had just saved Cross! He deserved at least the tiniest ounce of respect for that.

Nightmare talked to Horror about his behavior and he apologized to Blue. 

But something was still off, so Nightmare talked to Horror some more afterwards and got to the root of the problem.

Horror was the closest to Killer and Nightmare from the gang. Killers death hit him  _ hard.  _ So seeing Blue made it seem like they were replacing Killer, which really set Horror off. Since Ink was responsible for the AUs collapse, and Blue was helping him, Horror blamed him partially for Killer's death.

Nightmare was working with him to get over that.

With Dust, he just didn't feel comfortable being around Blue yet. Which was fine, Dust could take as much time as he needed.

Fresh seemed to trust Blue a lot. Those two were inseparable for the first few weeks that Blue was here. Fresh was always advocating for Blue, listing off all the reasons why he was a trustworthy person. Nightmare would be lying if he said that it didn't soothe his nerves a little.

And Cross was one of the closest ones to Blue from all of them. It was funny, considering that he was the one who approached Nightmare about Blue.

But after Cross gave Blue a proper room and trained with him a bit they became close.

Now Fresh, Blue, and Cross were an unstoppable trio. 

Which wasn't that bad of a thing, if Nightmare were to be honest.

Everyone was stressed out of their minds right now. With Error being sick with no explanation other than soul injuries.

Nightmare was scared for him. He already lost one of his boys that year, and they nearly lost another, he couldn't afford to actually lose Error.

  
  


His tentacles curled in on himself as his breathing became slightly more shallow. He panted as he tried to catch his breath, finding it harder to breathe.

This was so  _ dumb!  _ He was the  _ guardian of negativity!  _ He shouldn't be having panic attacks!

Nightmare let the tenth panic attack of that month happen.

~~~~

They hadn't seen any improvement when it came to Error.

If anything, he had gotten worse.

Nightmare sat in a chair by his bed, watching him for any signs of life.

Nightmare sighed and rested his skull in his hands.

He didn't understand what they were doing wrong! 

He could tell that Error was less exhausted magic wise, keyword being  _ less. _

He was still being slowly drained of his magic, even though they were giving him the food Horror had made every hour.

It was almost as if he was still using his magic, even though he's been asleep this whole time; so that shouldn't be possible.

His tentacles curled in distress behind him as he watched Error.

At least Ink had yet again paused in making AUs, but that still didn't do much to calm him.

He leaned forward and gently grabbed Error's hand.

He was wearing a baggy pair of grey sweatpants and a black shirt from Nightmare. 

He was  _ really  _ worried.

Nightmares phone chimed, breaking the silence.

Horror. He picked it up.

"Hey, boss. There's an emergency broadcast, we don't know what it's about, but it's starting soon." Horror informed Nightmare.

"Is that so? I'll be there in just a bit." Nightmare replied, hanging up the phone.

"Sorry, Error. I've got to go." He whispered to the glitch as he zipped off to the living room in the form of a shadow.

"I had no idea that you guys had access to this!" Nightmare could hear Blue exclaim as he entered the living room.

"Yeah, that was kinda the point. Error got access to the channel, so he gave it to us as well." Dust shrugged as Nightmare walked into sight.

"I'm so sorry, that must have been so awkward for you guys. Mweheheh." Blue chucked awkwardly and blushed.

"It's ok, Blue! It made for some great entertainment." Cross smiled as he laid down across Blue's legs. He made grabby hands at Fresh, who awkwardly cuddled up to him.

"If this ever gets uncomfortable, you just tell me," Cross warned Fresh, gently nuzzling his skull.

"That sounds rad, brah." Fresh chuckled as he readjusted his glasses.

"Where's Horror?" Nightmare asked as he made his presence known.

"Here, Boss." Horror called out as he waddled into the living room, holding three huge bowls of popcorn.

"Popcorn..? Why..?" Blue asked in a confused manner as Horror handed him a bowl.

"Because these broadcasts are such sh(azam) shows that popcorn is required. It's like a comedy to us." Horror laughed. 

Nightmare had to hold a smile back at how much positivity Blue was radiating from this interaction.

The channel suddenly played a familiar cheerful jingle as Dream and Ink appeared on the screen.

Nightmare was quickly pulled to the couch by Dust, who immediately took the chance to use Nightmare as a seat.

There were a few things off about the scene. Dream looked incredibly sad, his eye lights were dimmer than normal and Nightmare could almost feel his feelings through the tv. Secondly, Ink while looking extremely serious didn't look that sad, more mad.

"Good evening/afternoon/morning everyone." Ink addressed the camera.

"We have not come forward today to issue a warning, but rather we need to ask a favour." Ink told everyone.

"As some of you may have noticed, our fellow guardian Blue isn't with us today." Dreams voice sounded too dull, almost dead.

"Around two months ago he went missing. To this day his whereabouts are unknown, and we are desperate to reunite with our fellow guardian. If you have any information about where he might be, please visit the All-Inclusive AU Help Center located in the board's headquarters." Dream finished.

They continued speaking, but none of the gang were watching them at this point. They were all staring at Blue, who looked like he was about to murder someone.

"I tell them that I never want to see them again, and they do this? They can't even respect my wishes now?" He growled.

"I would like some time alone to process this. Fresh, Cross. Can you please get off of me so that I don't hurt you?" Blue asked politely. 

The two of them got up and Blue immediately stormed out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going up at midnight because I just wanna post for this story so badly lmao.
> 
> Roast me for any errors you may see in this chapter
> 
> ALSO apparently Grammarly shuts down in a 40k+ document, so I had to make a new doc for the newest chapters lol.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get some news about Error

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is probably the shortest chapter I will ever release for this fic, but it's important.
> 
> It's the first chapter that I've posted for this fic that's under 1k words, I don't know what to feel about that.
> 
> I promise the next chapters will be longer!

Horror poured the food (that could honestly be considered liquid magic) out from the pot into a couple of cups.

He placed them in a special cabinet they had in the fridge just for Errors medicine. Horror still kept one of the cups out to be able to get the liquid in a syringe.

They had wanted to up the dose again, but at the same time, they didn't want to risk Error suffering from a magic overdose.

Horror prepared a syringe, then he quickly made it over to Errors room. He was admittedly relieved that no one was in the room already.

He quickly padded over to Error's bed and gently pried open his mouth. Horror quickly administered the food.

When that was done, he quickly walked over to the bathroom to wash the syringes.

Horror exited the bathroom calmly, then he looked over at the bed.

_"Holy shit is he having a seizure!?"_ Horror screeched in fear.

Error was thrashing on the bed wildly- but it wasn't the usual pained thrash. This was prolonged.

Horror freaked out, running over to Error.

" _OhmygodwhatdoIdowhatdoIdo!?"_ Horror panicked.

Seizures aren't really that common in skeleton monsters since they don't have brains. But if there is a problem with the soul then a seizure can be had.

Horror started trembling and quickly picked up the phone to call Nightmare.

"Horror? What's wron-"

"Boss! Errors having a seizure and I don't know what to do!" Horror interrupted the other in his panic.

Nightmare was in the room a second later.

"Horror, move aside I need to get to Error." Nightmare commanded.

Horror immediately obliged, moving aside.

Nightmare quickly leapt into action, taking the sheets off of Error and turning him onto his side.

He then removed the majority of things out of Error vicinity. Nightmare took off the hoodie he was wearing over his shirt and folded it up, placing it under Errors head.

"Time the seizure, if it lasts for 5 or more minutes I need you to go to an AU to get Buccal midazolam." Nightmare ordered.

Horror quickly nodded his head.

Nightmare stood back a bit as Error suddenly vomited. After that, the seizure was over.

Horror stood and watched in well- horror.

Nightmare quickly cleaned out the vomit.

"Can you get me another pair of clothes for Error?" Nightmare asked Horror.

"Y-yes boss will do." Horror stammered out, quickly leaving the room.

He quickly went to his room, taking out a pullover hoodie along with a pair of loose sweatpants.

This had never happened to the destroyer before. He was getting so much worse. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am going to expand on the length of the chapter a bit here.
> 
> The reason this chapter is so short is that I really wanted to focus on the fact that Error got worse, and adding more felt like it was taking the focus off of that. 
> 
> And the steps Nightmare takes with the seizure here is what you should actually do if someone has a seizure, just a little fun fact. Honestly, as someone who has witnessed someone has a seizure before (and that was an absence seizure, so you couldn't even tell the person was having a seizure), it's extremely easy to panic in that situation. So I guess Horror panicking felt like the realest reaction here.
> 
> oN aNotHer hAnd i gOt mY fiDGet cUbe oN tHurSdAy (which I absolutely adore). Ok, sorry! I'm done talking now!
> 
> Roast me for mistakes here, please!


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dark Sans' try to come up with a plan on how to help Error.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, I tend to pressure myself to make every chapter have a minimum of 1000 words. The last chapter didn't pass the minimum (not by a long shot), so I was panicking. I was admittedly comforted by the fact that this chapter would be longer. I only realized that this chapter didn't hit that goal I set just before I started prepping to post it.
> 
> I just- haha.

They all huddled around the dining room table to discuss what happened with Error.

"What caused this?" Cross asked nervously.

"I think it may have something to do with the food we're giving him. A lot of times when a monster has too much magic, they go into magic shock, where the body attempts to get rid of the excess magic in any way it can. This can also happen in the form of seizures." Nightmare informed the table.

"So we're giving him too much magic? But at the same time, it's not even enough magic for us to be able to summon his soul?" Dust asked.

Nightmare nodded his head in confirmation.

"Then what do we do?" Cross asked nervously, cuddled up against Fresh.

Fresh spoke up.

"What can we do to help Error- brah if this ever happens again?" Fresh asked.

"We all need to learn what to do when someone has a seizure, just in case this happens again." Horror replied.

Nightmare nodded his head.

"We also need to get Buccal midazolam from an AU." Nightmare informed the others.

  
Blue chose this exact moment to focus on the convo again.

"What? Sorry, I zoned out." Blue interrupted.

"We need to get Buccal midazolam, it's a form of save medicine administered to people who have been suffering from a seizure for over 5 minutes." Nightmare explained, a tad bit annoyed.

"Not sure how well it will work on Error, since it's made for humans. But there is probably a monster version in an AU." Nightmare pointed out.

"Oh! Ok! Thanks, and um sorry." Blue sheepishly replied.

"What do we do?" Cross repeated his question.

They all looked around at each other nervously.

"We can try to stop giving him the food, for now, see if there are any changes?" Dust offered.

Horror stayed silent.

"But he needs food! And he's still really weak." Cross protested.

"Yeah, but he just suffered a seizure because he had too much magic in his system!" Dust pointed out.

Fresh thought about the situation, then something occured to him.

"Should we really leave the broski alone if he just had a seizure?" Fresh timidly asked.

They all went silent at that.

"Good point. Fresh, can you go stay with Error? You can call me if something happens." Nightmare asked.

Fresh nodded and immediately got up, power walking towards Errors room.

The rest of the gang looked around guiltily, ashamed that they didn't think of that first.

"Is there anything that we can do in this situation?" Horror asked.

Everyone stayed silent. 

Nightmare noticed that Blue had a faraway look in his eye lights, and he was about to snap him back to reality when Blue focused again and chimed in.

"Horror was the food _hp_ _food_ or _magic concentrated_ food?" Blue asked.

"Both, obviously. It was high magic food, which means that it is obviously hp food." Horror answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Actually, high magic does not equal hp food." Blue pointed out.

"Horror, I'm not criticizing you here, but can you check the recipe and see if it mentions the food healing hp?" Blue asked kindly.

Horror felt insulted, so he got defensive.

"Are you saying that this is _my fault!?"_ Horror asked, audibly offended.

"No, I'm not. You are not responsible for Errors state, especially considering the fact that we don't know why he's in that state!" Blue attempted to soothe.

Horror begrudgingly got up to look for the cookbook.

Around a minute of the rest of the gang along with Blue sitting in silence, Horror came back with the recipe book.

He quickly flipped through the pages until he found the one he was looking for.

"It says magic potent food." Horror said.

"Does it say anything about being HP food?" Nightmare asked.

"No." Horror grumbled.

"But what does it being hp food have to do with anything!?" Horror demanded.

  
  


"If there's an injury we missed, Error would be exhausting his magic trying to heal it." Nightmare spoke aloud as he realized what Blue was insinuating.

"Horror, you need to make some full HP food for Error pronto." Nightmare demanded.

Horror nodded and quickly ran off to the kitchen.

~~~~

He came back around an hour later.

"I made a full hp dark chocolate and avocado pudding." Horror declared.

Blue was taken back to the day he first joined the gang.

"So are we going to give the food to him, or what exactly are we doing?" Dust asked.

"We are going to try giving Error this food every other hour, for now, if needed we will up the dose, get his body familiar with the HP food." 

  
  


They all looked around, and they nodded at each other.

Error needed to get better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's so funny looking back on the older chapters now that I know what I'm doing. I'm definitely going to be posting more chapters on the extras that would have been part of this fic if I had known where the plot of this story was going at the time.
> 
> The biggest joke I ever told: tHe dArk sAns' aRe tHe mAiN fOcuS oF tHe fic!
> 
> Even though it hasn't been that long, so mich has changed and it's hilarious.
> 
> Roast me for any mistakes!


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Error gets better? Hm, somehow that summary doesn't seem right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helllllloooooo there! Don't mind me, I'm just in an overly happy mood cuz I made some breakthroughs with this series. 
> 
> I am going to make you all absolutely detest me.
> 
> Also, you might want to re-read chapter 5 before reading this chapter. There are some pretty important clues in there.
> 
> And this is a chapter I have been excited to write/post for a long time!
> 
> That almost never means something good. For you guys though, not me. For me it's amazing =).
> 
> I'm not sure if there are any trigger warnings that apply for this chapter, but if there is something in this chapter that you believe could be triggering, feel free to let me know!

They slowly but surely got Error used to the HP food.

And to their surprise, it helped.

Error was getting noticeably better than before. The color in his face had returned, now having a slight blush that looked healthy. Error moved more often than before, occasionally shifting.

One time he had even squeezed Fresh's hand! That was amazing progress!

Error would sometimes mumble in his sleep as well, cementing how much the HP food had helped him.

Blue was absolutely delighted. And he was super excited for when they could see Error wake up.

Horror had held a bit of a grudge against him since Blue suggested the HP food. But that didn't really matter since Error was getting better!

Blue tugged Fresh tighter as they sat by Error's bed with Dust.

Dust seemed to trust him more after his suggestion started helping Error.

It was subtle, but Blue still noticed it.

Dust would smile more around him, making more jokes and acting a tad bit more carefree. He also started teasing Blue.

That was a tiny bit annoying. It seemed as if Dust liked to give everyone a nickname.

Blue had the nickname of 'baby blue'. Dust hadn't explained why that was the nickname he chose, he just started calling Blue that.

_"Baby blue, can you pass me that chemistry book from there?"_

_"Heeeeeeey baby blue, can I ask you to do a tiny favour for me?"_

It was baby blue this and baby blue that.

Blue didn't really mind it all that much. It was nice to see that the majority of the gang was getting more comfortable around him.

  
  


Fresh was snoring lightly from where his head was resting on Blue's shoulder. The colorful skeleton was still exhausted from all of those months he spent isolated with Error. So he ended up falling asleep on Blue as Blue was cuddling him. Both of them had been slightly touch starved, so they constantly went to each other for physical affection.

But Blue was getting a little antsy. Too much physical contact quickly became overwhelming for Blue, and this was starting to cross that line. It was also killing him to be sitting so still.

He was still nervous when it came to Error, even if he was getting better.

Blue felt like pacing around, or training, or cooking- or _something_ to be able to get all those feelings out. 

Instead, he gently played with Fresh's fingers, trying not to wake him up.

"Aww, how cute." Came the whisper from Dust.

Blue turned to look at the skeleton, who was laying on his stomach with his feet kicked back, resting his face in his hands.

"I swear, baby blue, you and little Freshy are adorable." Dust crooned teasingly.

"I'm not adorable!" Blue puffed up his chest, visibly offended.

Dust just chuckled softly at that.

"I'll have to file you for the bean protection squad, it's now official." He giggled quietly, trying not to wake Error up.

"The bean protection squad? What?" Blue looked lost.

"You'll find out sooner or later." Dust winked at him. Blue glared half-heartedly at the other.

The two of them chatted quietly for a bit, Blue trying his best not to wake Fresh up. Dust must have sensed Blues discomfort because he offered to take Fresh.

"Hey, Blue. You're looking a bit uncomfortable there. Mind if I take Fresh?" Dust offered.

"Yes, please I _beg you_ to. I _need_ to move." Blue quietly groaned, shifting Fresh slightly so that he was carrying him bridal style. Blue quickly walked over to the chair Dust was sitting on and placed Fresh in his arms.

"Be careful with him," Blue whispered as he retreated to his previous spot.

"Ok, brother." Dust scoffed quietly, rolling his eye lights.

"Brother? Why?" Blue asked, tilting his head to the side.

"There have been _sooo_ many times where you've acted like an overbearing mother. Which- like trust me you _don't_ need to do that. So, obviously, I'd feel the need to call you as such. But, I already call Error mom, and dad is taken by Nightmare. So brother was one of the only titles left." Dust shrugged.

"You call Nightmare dad and Error mom? Are those two… you know?" Blue trailed off awkwardly, not really wanting to voice his thought.

"Dating? Nope. The two of them are just like overbearing parents." Dust quietly chuckled, shaking his head fondly.

The silence between them was tense as the conversation ended. They had tried to ignore it up to now, but it was getting harder and harder.

"Do you think they'll be ok?" Blue hesitantly asked.

Nightmare, Horror, and Cross had all left to go on a supply raid and to check out which AUs had been blocked off.

They were all tense because of Ink and Dreams plan to kidnap the majority of them.

"They'll be fine, hopefully." Dust seemed much more sombre now.

Error let out a soft groan, capturing the two lucid skeleton's attention.

"Is it time to feed him?" Dust asked, looking for what Blue assumed was his phone. 

"I believe so, I can go grab the food and feed him myself." Blue offered, beginning to stand up.

"Sure, can't really do it myself as you can imagine." Dust pointed to Fresh.

"Alright, I'll be back as soon as possible, but I might still get lost." Blue pointed out, half-joking.

"A'ight, see you soon." Dust whispered, nuzzling Fresh.

Blue smiled softly before quickly leaving the room to get the food.

He squinted slightly as he power-walked down the hall. It's been 4 months since he joined, yet Blue still didn't know how to navigate the hideout properly.

Can you blame him!? The place is _huge!_

  
  


Blue quickly wandered through the halls, sighing in relief as he managed to make it to the kitchen.

He quickly scurried over to the fridge and brought out the liquidized food that Hor-, sorry it's actually Nightmare- no actually Horr- you know what!? Both of them made it!

It was confusing since Horror cooked the food, but Nightmare was the one who made it into a liquid and made it full hp.

Apparently, Horror couldn't deal with it, saying that it felt like he was wasting food.

He prepped the serving for Error and quickly left the kitchen, container of food under one arm and holding the syringe in his other hand.

  
  


Blue managed to make it to Error's took without getting lost, which was a miracle.

He gently opened the door, and Dust looked up at him.

"Wow, I expected you to be lost for longer than that." Dust smirked.

Blue rolled his eye lights, he heard Dust scoff and froze.

_Oh my god, he's mad at me._

_I did something wrong. I shouldn't have done that._

_Oh god oh god oh god am I going to be in trouble!?_

~~~~

Dust scoffed playfully when he saw Blue roll his eye lights.

His playful mood quickly turned concerned when he saw Blue freeze in the middle of the room.

"Baby blue? You ok there, bud?" He asked in concern.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine." Blue said softly, his voice slightly higher than before.

Blue quickly started moving towards Error, but Dust didn't miss the way he was trembling.

"Hey, if you need to step out to take a breath of _fresh_ air, that's ok." Dust smiled, hoping the pun would help Blue.

It did, at least if the snort Blue let out was anything to go by.

Blue quickly gave Error the required dose of food.

Dust watched as Blue turned away, but whirled right back around as Error started violently coughing.

Dust felt Fresh stirring in his arms, so he quickly stood up and carried Fresh bridal style.

"..waz goin on." Fresh mumbled sleepily, rubbing at his eye sockets under his glasses.

Dust and Blue watched nervously as the unconscious glitch rubbed at his chest.

"Is there something wrong with his soul?" Blue asked in concern.

"Fresh, I need to put you down. I'm going to summon his soul." Dust told the younger, who nodded.

He quickly placed Fresh down, who quickly leaned on Blue. 

Dust put a hand over Errors chest, feeling the weak flicker of life there.

_It's stronger than the last time we tried to summon his soul._ He thought as he focused on the slight pull of the destroyer's soul.

After around 5 minutes of Dust slowly pulling more and more on Error's soul, he finally managed to summon it.

Three gasps sounded out in the room at the sight of Error's soul.

His soul was normally shaped like a normal monster soul, an upside-down heart.

It was blue and slightly translucent, with white glitches constantly buzzing around it. Those same glitches would also make it appear like he was missing a piece of his soul.

Now, however?

  
  
  
  


_His soul was completely wrapped in_ **_red_ ** _strings._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though I am completely new to this fanfiction thing, and to A03 in general, I think I'm making progress.
> 
> I have a bio now, and I included I guess terms and conditions about stuff revolving my fic. (Like fanfic of my fanfic, fanart etc.) 
> 
> I understand that they are important rules to set in place, but something about it makes me feel narcissistic.
> 
> Like, even me thinking of someone doing something like making fan art of one of my fics (which, like why would you do that all of my fics suck?) makes me feel wrong.
> 
> Also now I'm editing my older chapters to include trigger warnings at the beginning because my dumb ass didn't think to put them in the first place!
> 
> Anyway, roast me for typos/mistakes, please!


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How is Ink doing? He should totally be our priority right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY THERE, YOU MAY NEED TO RE-READ THE FIC TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THIS CHAPTER.
> 
> The first reason being that I actually slightly rewrote chapter 12 (the chap where Reaper announces Error and Fresh as dead). I gave a tiny tiny smidge of a hint about the situation that is discussed in this chapter, and I gave Reaper an actual personality.
> 
> Also, there has been a lot of information presented so far throughout this fic, so it's natural to forget stuff. So re-reading it may present you with more information, and hints about this chapter and the future of this story.
> 
> Because this may seem a little out of the blue if you've forgotten some of the details, but I've been alluding to this for a while.

Ink rubbed the side of his skull with a sigh, looking over a map of AUs they hadn't locked yet.

They had made barely any progress with the plan since Blue left! It was so frustrating!

Ink was _furious_ at Blue's little stunt.

Who did he think he was! The things he said were absolutely unacceptable! How dare he speak like that to him!?

And now they couldn't find him, which was stressing Dream out.

Dream seemed to be doing worse. That was normally something that would have concerned Ink, but right now he had other things to be worried about.

It's just- ugh he was _so frustrated with Blue!_ The absolute fucking **_audacity._ **

  
  
  


_'To be fair, he was being abused for months on end by someone who he thought he could trust. Hell, someone that he was in a relationship in with! He had every right to leave.'_

'I didn't hit him. It's not abuse if I didn't hit him. A "queerplatonic" relationship doesn't count as a relationship, so that point makes no sense. He had no right to leave.'

_'Remember what Dream said? Emotional abuse is still abuse! And we were emotionally abusing him. If you think that queerplatonic relationships don't count then you are more ignorant than I could have ever imagined. He had an absolute fucking right to leave, Blue is an adult who can do whatever he wants to do. We aren't his legal guardians!'_

'Maybe it was a bit rude to take our anger out on Blue, but he was a little baby about it. The things we said weren't that bad.'

_'Weren't.That. Bad!? Are you KIDDING me!? We insulted him at every chance we got, called him slurs, manipulated him AND Dream, we would constantly yell at him and contradict ourselves on 'rules' to make him feel bad, and we nearly ATTACKED HIM. Oh, and I remember there being a couple of snide comments of 'dust yourself'. That. Is. Emotional abuse.'_

'I think we should remember who originally brought up emotional abuse, Dream. Considering the fact that his mental health is absolutely atrocious right now, and the fact that it looks as if he has relapsed, is he the best judge? He's been feeling weaker, so his judgment is clearly clouded.'

_'If Dream is so bad, WHY AREN'T WE HELPING HIM!? WE SHOULD BE HELPING HIM SO THAT HE CAN FEEL BETTER! You constantly go on about 'protecting the multiverse' yet you don't do shit about stuff like this! The multiverse can't be protected by guardians that were born out of a broken system.'_

  
  


'Dream is acting childish. He's the guardian of positive emotions. I am protecting the multiverse, don't you **ever** imply that that's not the case. **_I am doing more for this multiverse than you ever did._ **'

' _... you're unbelievable.'_

Ink looked over the AUs, thinking about which ones would be of the most value to the Dark Sans'. 

This was a routine that was normally done with Dream, but during their meeting, he looked as if he were about to fall apart, he also appeared to be in pain.

Ink should let him be and let him do his own thing. 

After a while of not being able to decide on an AU, he finally gave up.

_It would be great to have another opinion on the matter._

Ink stood up from his desk, briskly walking away and towards the door. The creator walked down the stairs to the first floor. It could be annoying here sometimes, since it's open to the public and there are so many people.

But he was so desperate for help that he found himself not caring at this current moment.

Ink found himself drawn to the library, looking for information about all of the AUs.

Don't get him wrong, he knows most things about the AUs, after all, he made them! But sometimes a little reminder isn't so bad.

Ink leafed through a book describing different resources that are unique to a specific AU, he already cut off the healing gel amongst other things, the more resources he could cut off the better.

Ink was reading about medicines when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

Ink looked up to see Comic standing there, dopey grin on his face.

"Oh, hi Comic!" Ink straightened up immediately.

"Hey Ink, what are you reading?" Comic asked politely.

Ink winced internally, not that used to social interaction and still being uncomfortable around other people.

_'You asshole. How long is this going to go on for?'_

'Not too long, enjoy it while it lasts.'

"Um, just some stuff about different types of rare items from AUs." Ink mumbled.

"Aren't you the one who made those rare items? Why would you need to read about it?" Comic asked.

"Just because I made them doesn't mean that I remember them all. Besides, after I make an AU the story is out of my control. There have been items made that I had no involvement in." Ink shrugged.

"So, what're you doing here? I don't think I've ever seen you in this part of the boards building before." Ink asked curiously.

"I wanted to visit the multiverse's largest library, but it was overbooked. So I came here instead." Comic winked as he leaned against the bookshelf beside Ink.

Ink snorted, trying to cover it up by slapping a hand over his mouth.

"Interesting, I thought you hated puns." Comic smirked.

"Nobody will believe you if you tell them this happened, so don't even try." Ink warned.

"We'll see about that~" Comic sang.

The two stayed in silence for a bit as Ink looked for the proper place to put his book on the shelf.

"So, _why_ are you reading up about the items?" Comic asked.

Ink opened his mouth to answer but found that he couldn't.

_Oh…_

"In order to protect the multiverse, I have devised a plan to save the Dark Sans' by luring them to an AU, to lure them I am in the process of blocking off AUs with items that are necessary for their survival/health." Ink heard himself say, even though he didn't even want to say it in the first place.

_'Wow,_ **_that's_ ** _how long I got to be in control? You couldn't even let me check up on Dream?'_

**'Don't make me regret giving you control in the first place.'**

_'It's really not fair. I need to make AUs to be allowed to have control of my own damn body! And now that you're in control it's not like you're gonna make new AUs to let me gain control.'_

'I will make AUs after we've gotten rid of the pests. You will gain full control.'

_'Yeah, but the second you get upset my emotions won't belong to me anymore. I don't have any control at all.'_

"I was just trying to find out which AUs have supplies that may be important to then so I can block it off." Ink shrugged, looking at his feet.

"Have you blocked off the Medicaltale AUs?" Comic asked.

F- Ink looked back at him.

"Oh, I didn't think of that, actually. Thanks!" He thanked, an insincere smile on his face, though Comic couldn't tell that.

The two of them started walking towards the exit, then Comic decided to speak up.

"I'm sorry about Blue." Comic looked at Ink sympathetically.

  
  


"There's no need to be sorry about that _brat._ " Ink bitterly spat out.

"He wasn't a good guardian anyway." Ink rolled his white eye lights as the two of them exited the library.

"... I thought the two of you were close?" Comic hesitantly asked.

"Used to. That was before I realized how truly pathetic he is. Honestly, it would probably be better if he were dust." Ink sighed.

Comic looked disturbed but didn't make a comment.

"Sorry, I gotta go back to my AU. Need to make sure my bro doesn't burn down the house with Undyne again." Comic blurted out, quickly walking away.

Ink found the behaviour a little odd but decided to shrug it off.

  
  
  


…

  
  
  


…

  
  
  


_'I hate you so much,_ **_Fate_ ** _.'_

'I have strong feelings towards you too, god of creation.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, In just want to say that INK IS ABSOLUTELY BABEY IN THIS FIC, ALRIGHT!?
> 
> We haven't seen a single scene in this fic that has him 100% in control, think about that.
> 
> Also, in TEPSE, I wrote the scene for an event mentioned here involving Dream. I have also shown some of the actual Inks personality. Just listen to the trigger warnings!


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a lot of mixed feelings in it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, fun fact! Today (Aug. 9th) is technically the official date for when the collapse happened! I've been using a timeline to help plan out the chapters, (I can confirm that this story will have over 50 chapters), and to make sure I have my dates in order.
> 
> I am extremely forgetful, especially when it comes to dates, so I chose my birthday to be the day the collapse happened! 
> 
> Trigger Warnings For This Chapter
> 
> -Mentions of a character having a panic attack
> 
> -Mentions of death
> 
> -Slight suicidal ideation (more specifically, a character tells another person that they should kill them).
> 
> -Internalized abilism
> 
> -Brief mentions of child abuse
> 
> Stay safe, please don't read if any of this triggers you!

Nightmare had gone out with Cross and Horror to raid a random universe.

They had been discretely stealing supplies from all the genocide timelines from the specific AU they were in so that the Star Sans' don't get involved, but then they had gotten a call.

Dust had asked them to come back to the hideout immediately, stating that it's important.

When they had gotten to the hideout, they found Dust and Fresh freaking out over Error, while Blue just looked confused.

Nightmare felt his soul drop to his stomach as he saw Error's soul.

It was completely wrapped in bright red strings, Fates strings. Last time the destroyer's soul had been in this condition he didn't have control of his body.

He was insane. He wasn't… him. 

He was vicious and cruel, and he was nearly unstoppable when it came to destroying AUs.

It didn't make sense at first why Error was behaving differently this time, until Nightmare noticed something odd.

The strings weren't completely red, they had a tinge of a light wispy blue to them.

Destiny had interfered, helping to save Error yet again.

In the span of the week since that day, they had been doing more and more to try to help Error.

All of them had attempted to break the dastardly strings at one point, but they all had failed.

Nightmare had gently used a few tentacles to try to rip Fates strings, only for it to fail.

The others had summoned a bone attack to try ripping the strings, it didn't work.

  
  


They continued to feed Error the full hp food, and he continued to get better. Of course, there were setbacks, but the road to recovery is rocky.

They, unfortunately, didn't find the required save medicine, but thankfully Error hadn't had a single seizure since then.

  
  


Nightmare had had around 2 panic attacks every single day since they found out that Fate had Error under their influence again. Not that the others knew of this fact.

They were under the impression that he was fine. At least he hopes so, seeing as that's what he led them to believe. 

It was honestly quite pathetic, he was the _guardian of negativity._

It was embarrassing, absolutely mortifying actually.

Nightmare, the guardian of negativity, had a myriad of mental health problems.

The fucking irony in that one sentence everyone!

  
  


Nightmare's job was to spread negativity and to help Error protect the balance! How was he supposed to do that if he couldn't even handle something like pain without inevitably getting flashbacks? And he couldn't handle stress because he got panic attacks? It was really pathetic.

Nightmare knew exactly what types of mental problems he had, seeing as some of his boys had some of the same issues.

There was no way he didn't have PTSD, seeing how many things could trigger flashbacks for him. Anxiety was another huge one if the panic attacks were anything to go by. There was the possibility of depression, but he probably didn't have it.

Sci had noticed this stuff immediately, asking Nightmare for permission to help him.

He had rejected Sci's offer, he didn't need help.

He was the guardian of negativity, he could deal with this on his own.

Besides, he can't show weakness, he has 6 skeletons to protect after all.

And he has 5 mouths to feed, six if you include him.

A lot of food tends to be consumed every day, that was the reason he was making so much food.

Nightmare was focusing on the Paella, while he had a bunch of tentacles working to make the other dishes.

Three tentacles worked together to put the salmon in the oven, as another two worked on assembling the Hasselback Tomato Caprese, and he had another tentacle working on making the dough for the blueberry and chocolate Clafoutis.

Ok, _listen Nightmare has a lot of mouths to feed that is the ONLY reason that he is making so much food he is absolutely NOT stress cooking!_ Understood?!

Nightmare was thoughtlessly cooking when he felt someone get closer.

He quickly identified the person as Blue, who was feeling a concoction of negative feelings.

Blue hesitantly stepped into the kitchen, and Nightmare quickly looked at him.

"What is it, Blue?" Nightmare sighed.

"Oh! Um." Blue seemed to get startled by that. And his anxiety increased tenfold, at this rate he was going to work himself into a panic attack.

But what could freak him out this much? Judging by the jolt of guilt that Blue was feeling, Nightmare could only guess that whatever it was wasn't good.

… did Blue betray them? 

  
  


His boys seemed to really like Blue, and he really liked Blue and Blue helped out a lot with Error, it would be a punch to the metaphorical gut if he betrayed them.

  
  


"C-can I cook with you? Unless you don't need the help of course! I-in that case it's fine! Ugh- you know what, sorry. It's ok, I-I can just go do something else or something, it's f-fine!" Blue stuttered.

He turned around to leave the kitchen, but Nightmare stopped him.

"Hmm, you know I could use some help. Could you make a Couscous salad for me? After that, I can also work you through the process of making a no-bake banana cheesecake." Nightmare instructed.

"Ok, um- thanks!" Blue seemed a tiny bit uplifted, but there was still that negativity he was feeling.

  
  


"I pinned the recipe on the fridge for reference if you need it." Nightmare hummed.

"Oh, thank you!" Blue sounded even more cheery, and his anxiety lessened a little.

As the two of them were cooking, Nightmare quickly searched the castle for the rest of his boys.

Error was in his room, so were Dust and Horror, Fresh and Cross were both located in Fresh's room, and Blue was on the other end of the massive kitchen.

When did Nightmare start to think of Blue as one of his boys?

He always treated Blue with respect, even when he first offered to let him in the gang.

Even if there was a chance of Blue betraying them, (which Nightmare highly doubted based on his emotions at the time), everybody deserves to be treated with respect.

Nightmare found out the hard way at a young age what it feels like to be treated with less respect.

  
  


After a while, he truly accepted Blue as part of the gang. But thinking of him as one of his boys..? That's just more personal.

Nightmare wanted to know about what Blue was feeling so upset about, but he had a feeling that the other would become closed off if he were to confront him about it. So he decided to start with a lighter topic instead.

"I don't believe that I've ever been told the story of how you and Fresh first met. Care to enlighten me?" Nightmare prompted.

"Oh, I can tell you! But, are you sure you wouldn't prefer it if Fresh told you the story instead? He's probably a better storyteller than I am anyway, sorry." Blue's voice started getting smaller and smaller the more he talked.

And Nightmare could see in the reflection of the oven that Blues shoulders got slightly more hunched.

  
  


Blue never really told them about his time with the two starry idiots.

Actually, his behavior had always been off when it came to the two of them.

When they tried to ask him questions about the other two that weren't important, he always brushed them off, or he left the room. There was always an excuse.

The behaviour Blue just exhibited (and had been exhibiting for months) was painting quite a disturbing picture.

But surely his brother wouldn't, right?

"It's ok, Blue. I'm sure you're an excellent storyteller, and I'd love to hear it from you." Nightmare assured.

He finished with the Paella, so he set it aside and turned around to face Blue, who was chopping up vegetables.

His body language was stiffer than usual, and his emotions were quite strange.

And his emotions were even weirder, Nightmare could feel amazement, and slight happiness, followed closely by uncertainty, and Nightmare could feel some suspicion.

...It was almost as if Blue wasn't used to getting compliments…

  
  


That was preposterous, right?

He lived with two of the most positive people in the multiverse for years, or did he?

Was it just a ruse? Were they not as nice as they seemed to be at surface level.

It makes Nightmare want to puke.

  
  


"I guess I can tell you about how we met." Blue shifted, and Nightmare moved to the black marbled kitchen island to work.

"Error and I kinda had this system where we'd meet up randomly in Outertale." Blue winced at the mention of the dead AU.

"It wasn't exactly planned meetings, it would just randomly happen." Blue shrugged.

"One day, when I went to Outertale, Fresh had already been there with Error. He had initially freaked out when he saw me, but then quickly calmed down when he realized I wasn't going to hurt him. We met up a couple of times after that when we both would end up going to Error." Blue explained while cooking.

Nightmare noticed that those negative emotions didn't really go away, so he decided to tentatively point it out, hopefully, it wouldn't cause Blue to shut him out.

"Being the guardian of negativity, I do appreciate negative feelings. But when it comes to getting negative feelings from my boys… I'm not as appreciative." Nightmare hummed.

He watched as Blue stiffened once again, and his feelings became panicked and guilty.

  
  


_This is looking more and more like a betrayal on Blues part._

  
  


"Oh, um, is there a reason you chose to tell me this?" Blue nervously chuckled.

  
  


"Blue, I can tell based on your emotions that something is up. You haven't betrayed us, have you?" Nightmare asked coolly.

The change in Blue's emotions was shocking.

  
  


His emotions instantly turned angrier, there was a hint of betrayal along with offence. There was also, hurt?

"I would never betray you! The magnificent Blue doesn't turn on his friends like that without good reason!" Blue declared, then stiffened.

Nightmare felt Blue become more panicked, then fearful. But after that Blue came to a sense of realization and calmed down.

What freaked him out like that?

"Blue, what's wrong?" Nightmare asked.

Blue sighed, letting his shoulders drop as he hung his head.

"I'm sorry." Blue sighed.

Nightmares concern skyrocketed and he was grateful that he didn't have any food on the stove that he needed to keep an eye on.

"Sorry? For what?" Nightmare asked.

Blue didn't respond, and Nightmare felt concerned at the confusion Blue was feeling.

"For being such a burden." Blue sighed, arms hanging limply by his side

Nightmare was startled by Blues admission, and by the trembling.

He quickly used his tentacles to set aside the food and gently turned Blue around.

Blue was silently crying, tears leaving marks down his cheeks.

Nightmare was confused, concerned, and definitely cross.

"Blue, can you tell me why you feel as if you are being a burden? Do you not feel happy here?" Nightmare asked gently.

"I-it's not like I'm un" *hic* "happy here. I f-feel extremely" *hic* "g-grateful t-that y-y-you took me i-in." Blue had to pause to take a breath in.

He was going to start speaking again, but then Cross entered the kitchen.

"Hey, Dad, where is the- Blue!? What's going on!? Are you ok!?" Cross asked in concern, hurriedly running over to Blue.

Cross opened his arms in a silent ask for a hug, and Blue instantly lept into Cross's arms, sobbing into the shorter's scarf.

"What happened, dad?" Cross asked, gently petting Blue's head.

Nightmare didn't get the chance to explain before Blue butted in.

"I-I'm s-so s-sorry f-for b-b-being such a b-burden! Y-you've a-all b-been s-s-so " *hic* "kind l-letting me s-stay here. And I've b-been doing n-n-nothing for you in return!" Blue sobbed.

"A-all I d-do is waste y-your resources, p-put a b-bigger t-target on y-your back, s-since now the whole f-fucking m-m-multiverse is l-looking for me. I-I intrude o-on personal t-things, a-and I don't offer you a-anything i-in re-e-turn!" Blue stuttered.

"N-not to m-mention h-how hard it i-is b-being a-around me-e w-with my a-a-ADHD." Blue hid his face in Cross,'s scarf as the other held him closer.

Nightmare was even more concerned.

Everything about this just screamed _wrong_ to him.

"I think you're wrong about that." Cross gently informed Blue.

"W-what?" Blue looked at Cross in confusion.

"I don't think you're a burden, Blue. You're just as important as the rest of us." Cross smiled gently at Blue.

Blue backed up from Cross slightly, looking at him disbelievingly before he fully registered what Cross had said. 

Nightmare lunged to go help the two of them when Blue sank to his knees in shock.

Cross kneeled in front of Blue, who was leaning against the dark wood cabinet as Nightmare kneeled beside Blue.

"T-there's _n-no_ way I'm n-not a burden. I d-don't do a-anything useful! I-I'm s-so s-stupid that y-you guys w-would c-constantly have t-to s-support me. My ADHD m-makes it s-so that I c-can't even f-fucking c-concentrate p-properly! I'm u-useless! You s-should j-just kill me!"

~~~~

Blue didn't know exactly when he started thinking that death would be a good option, but as soon as he said it, he knew it was the best option.

If Ink, one of the people he was closest to, could tell him about how useless he is, how dumb he is, how much of a burden he is, and how much better off they would be if he were dead, why shouldn't he believe it.

Him being dead would be so much better than bothering the gang any longer. They probably all hate him anyway. They will probably jump at the chance to kill him.

"What!? Blue no!" Cross exclaimed, immediately cuddling Blue.

"We are not going to kill you! You are one of us, and you are worth so much! Don't say that!" Cross exclaimed.

  
  


_He's lying._

  
  


Blue feverishly shook his head. "You're lying!" He insisted, hiding his face in his hands, curling up when Cross backed up.

"Blue, I'm really not lying!" Cross definitely lied. There was no way that could be the truth.

_They all hate you._ His brain insisted.

Blue shook his head again. "You h-hate me." He croaked.

What's the point of them lying to him with false compliments, he already knows that there is nothing likeable about him!

"Blue, can you look at me?" Nightmare asked.

Blue didn't want to look at him. He didn't want to see the others face as he lied to him, or kicked him out. 

Blue didn't have a choice, as a tentacle slipped under his chin and two others gently took his hands off his face, making him look at Nightmare.

Nightmare looked at him softly for a moment, before gently scooping him in his arms and then surrounding him with tentacles.

Blue stiffened at the hug, before melting into it.

Nightmare had never hugged him before, those were reserved for people he was close with, aka the rest of the gang along with Fresh and Error.

And he couldn't help but feel shocked at how much he needed the hug. Honestly, this was probably the best hug Blue had ever gotten.

The cocoon of tentacles surrounding the two of them didn't feel claustrophobic, rather it felt safe.

Hiding his face in Nightmare's chest as the other gently nuzzled the top of his skull didn't feel threatening, rather it felt safe.

Blue hummed in contentment between sniffles and hiccups as the tip of a tentacle rubbed the back of his head soothingly.

The whole hug screamed feelings of safety and love. It was the best damn hug Blue had ever gotten.

It was hard to believe that _this_ skeleton was the same dreaded guardian of negativity, the same one that people everywhere were scared of. 

The cold-hearted merciless leader of the cruel and ruthless homicidal Sans', just _wasn't_ any of that.

It was hard to think that Blue ever believed any of that at one point.

He let out an unwilling, and honestly embarrassing whine as Nightmare opened his tentacles, until he felt another pair of arms wrap around the two of them as the tentacles closed around them again.

Cross nuzzled the side his skull gently and Blue felt that overwhelming feeling of safety multiply.

Screw what he said before, _this_ was the best hug he had ever gotten.

It had been so long since he had had a hug that made him feel like this, it must've been a hug with Dream and Ink around a couple of months before the collapse.

  
  


"Nobody here hates you, Blue." Nightmare murmured softly.

"Yeah, Blue. We don't hate you." Cross insisted yet again, cuddling more into Blue.

He still couldn't quite believe their words as the voice (that sounded suspiciously like Ink) whispered to him again.

_They're lying. They want to use you. They don't care about you, how long is it going to take until they just off you? You don't benefit them in any sort of way, and if you aren't some sort of stepping stone to their success why would they keep you around._

"You've helped us out quite a lot. If it wasn't for you Fresh probably wouldn't have survived, I would have been kidnapped, and who even knows what would have happened to Error!" Cross exclaimed.

"And we don't mind the fact that you have ADHD! We didn't even know- or at least _I_ didn't know you had ADHD until you told us right now! You aren't a burden and I would thank you to stop thinking of yourself like that!" Cross pouted and Blue couldn't hold back a laugh.

"I agree with what Cross said. Speaking of ADHD, is there something we can do to help make things easier for you? Anything you need at all? I promise you won't be a burden." Nightmare soothed.

"Oh, um I'm fine." Blue awkwardly laughed.

"Don't hesitate to ever come to us if you need anything," Cross demanded, hugging the two of them tighter.

Blue nodded his head, but quickly started getting uncomfortable.

"Can we stop this now? This is starting to get overwhelming." Blue asked, and Nightmare and Cross quickly got away from him.

"Thanks." He breathed, and the other two nodded.

Nightmares phone chose that time to ring, and he quickly picked it up.

"What is it, Horror?" He asked.

Cross and Blue could hear Horrors excited voice through the phone.

"Really!? That's great news! Yes, we will be there as soon as possible." Nightmare nodded.

"I'll be sure to bring some water- he's asking for chocolate milk instead? Of course." Nightmare sighed.

"We will be there in a tiny bit." Nightmare hung up the phone and looked to the two of them.

  
  
  


"Error woke up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, there is a section at the beginning where Nightmare talks about his mental problems, there is an almost identical section talking about another character in an earlier chapter!~
> 
> And this next chapter is super important, so I am having problems writing it. gOd dAmN iT-!
> 
> Hopefully, I will be able to get it out on time. But just a warning that I may end up posting it late.


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Error wakes up!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not gonna lie, this chapter was cut short. I originally started writing this chapter from Cross' point of view after the last chapter ended. But it didn't feel right. So usually when something doesn't feel write, I change the POV, or something like that. (If this wasn't something I started doing, I have absolutely zero idea what the plot for this fic would've been tbh).
> 
> Errors POV was definitely better! Seeing as I wrote over 2k words in the span of two days! But I could tell that I would have to leave some stuff for the next chapter. I honestly wanted to leave the chapter on a different cliffhanger than I did here, but I have to do what I must I guess.
> 
> Trigger Warnings
> 
> I don't think any apply to this chapter? If there is a trigger warning that could apply here, please feel free to let me know!

Error felt heavy and his chest hurt. That was all he could think as he laid down… somewhere. He wanted to open his eyes, but found that he couldn't. Error listened attentively to the people around him who were talking. He could hear hushed whispers as what sounded like 3 people were talking. They didn't seem to have any malicious intent, as one of them was holding his hand. 

It wasn't a painful touch either, it was more reassuring than anything. It felt familiar too, was he in the hideout? That made the most sense now that he's thinking about it. Most of the people in the multiverse would kill him if they ever saw him sleeping, the only people ever doing any different being Blue, Fresh, and the gang. The gang seemed the most logical option considering the fact that there were 3 voices.

Errors chest hurt, like a lot. Was there something wrong with his soul? He tried to move his hand but found that he couldn't. H-he wasn't in control of his body! What was going on? This had never happened before. Error tried to ground himself as best as possible.  _ Focus on something else, anything else.  _ Ok, um, how about finding out more information about the room he was in? 

He was laying down somewhere, what did it feel like? 

Error could tell he was laying down in a bed. It was incredibly plush, yet still a little firm, it was obviously used. His head was resting on a pillow that felt a little worse for wear. Pillows tended to be extremely fluffy when you first buy them, but after a while, they lose that trait when used often. So this is obviously a bed that's slept in often. There was a weight on top of him, a blanket? No, a weighted blanket. It was smooth, like silk- it wasn't necessarily silk. Was this..? Yep, it was his weighted blanket he made with his own strings. But isn't that supposed to be in the Anti Void?

How? Actually, if memory serves right he last forgot it in the hideout. So that basically confirmed that he was with the gang. Error finally paid attention to what he could smell, and realized that he was most  _ definitely  _ in his room in the hideout.

The familiar smell of chocolate mixed with cinnamon was extremely reassuring. His scented candles must be in use right now, it made the room smell divine. Hm, there was also a hint of licorice, why..? Wait, Nightmare. Nightmare was covered in this weird goop that smelled like a mixture of licorice and apples, it was the same smell that he could smell right now. Ok, definitely in the hideout.

Error was wearing his usual clothes- wait, no he wasn't. His normal clothes were all made with a mixture of his strings and stolen fabric, the only trace of his magic in this room was the blanket. Why did someone undress him?

Error tried to speak but found that the pain in his chest worsened whenever he did that. Ok! Point made! He is shutting up now…

What was he wearing? Error could feel that he was wearing a loose pair of pants, maybe sweatpants? And he was definitely wearing a hoodie. There didn't seem to be any zipper, so it was a pullover for sure. He didn't own any clothes like this, but Nightmare definitely did!  _ That  _ was where the smell of licorice was coming from! Oh, and there was definitely a hint of apple. 

The gang was safe, he was safe. 

  
  


...what happened anyway? Why was he in this position?

Error tried his best to recall what happened, finally remembering after around 5 minutes of trying. It was almost like something was blocking his memory.

He had been out with Fresh, that's right! They had been in Outertale like usual, but Error had gotten a feeling that they should get out of there. Call it a gut feeling, even though he doesn't have any guts. Fresh had been confused, but still complied. Error had made the portal to a nearby Underdecay for the both of them. Fresh had problems with his magic for some unknown reason. Error was attempting to convince the other to go to Nightmare for help, but he was protesting; insisting that he didn't want to be a burden on the others. When they had gotten to the AU, Error was explaining to the younger how he would never be a burden for the gang, but something happened.

His chest had started hurting. Error had frowned and attempted to move his hand to summon his soul, but found that he couldn't. Frozen in place, he suddenly experienced the worst pain he had ever felt.

Error flinched at the memory, the pain having been so bad that he saw white and passed out near instantly. After that there were voices getting closer to him, and he could feel gentle hands on him.

"He's good, he's not having another seizure."

"A-are you sure the broski is f-fine?" Error could hear another voice shakily ask. It definitely sounded like Fresh.

"Dust said he's fine, Fresh." Another voice insisted. This one was lower and much gruffer, it definitely belonged to Horror. From what Error could tell, these three were the only people in the room beside him.

So Fresh, Horror, and Dust were watching over him? How long has he been passed out for? And why did they assume he was having a seizure? God, he must have been passed out for like a week to have  _ 3 people watching over him. _

Wait- he was passed out  _ for a week, what happened to the balance!? _ Error tried his best to open his eye sockets, finding that whenever he would his soul would hurt more. He internalized a wince, he  _ needed to wake up.  _ Besides, this isn't nearly the worst pain he's ever felt.

Error finally managed to open his eye sockets, and immediately squinted. 

He was thankfully staring at the ceiling in his room in the hideout, but it felt too bright. Which was weird, considering that he lives in the Anti Void, so the soft orange light from his lamp on the bedside table shouldn't hurt his eye lights. Then again, if he was actually passed out for a week it made a bit of sense.

Error groaned, noticing how much his throat hurt with that, almost as if he hadn't talked for a long time. That didn't make sense, he was only passed out for a week!... right?

"Error? He's awake!" Fresh gasped, and Error blinked as three smiling faces came into view.

"How are you feeling?" Fresh asked. Error opened his mouth to answer, and he tried his best too! But only a whine came out, followed by some violent coughing. He clutched his chest as the pain worsened.

"Help me get him into a sitting position." Dust gently demanded of the others.

Error felt two pairs of hands gently guide him into a sitting position, both Dust and Fresh were smiling at him, and Horror was messing around with the pillows. 

The three of them gently propped him back on the pillows, which were positioned in a way to allow him to sit up.

"Are you ok?! Do you need anything?!" Fresh asked him. 

He thought about Fresh's question. He was parched, something to drink would be nice. Error opened his mouth to answer and started coughing again. The pain in his chest tightened as well. It kinda felt like his soul was being compressed, now that he's focusing on it. But it wasn't going to stop him from asking for a drink.

"d….D...rIn….k-K." Error managed to wheeze out. His throat hurt like hell in the process, and his voice was incredibly scratchy and hoarse. What the hell!? This shouldn't be happening after only a week of unconsciousness! And his voice was glitching, the last time that happened was when he was under Fates control! Again, what the hell!?

"I'm calling Nightmare." Horror announced from where he was standing by the door. 

Error looked around a bit more. Dust was standing to the right of him, leaning anxiously yet excitedly over him. Error could see that his lamp situated on top of the nightstand was on the lowest setting. 

Looking behind Dust to his dresser, Error could see that his assumption about his candles being lit was correct. Dust turned around to check what Error was looking at. He quickly turned back to Error with an apologetic look.

"Right, we lit your candles. So sorry if that upsets you. Well, it's too late to change it now!" He chuckled. Error waved it off, still finding it difficult to speak.

"...Error?" Fresh hesitantly asked as Error looked at him. "Is it rad i-if I hug you?" Fresh asked, and Error nodded and held out his arms.

Fresh quickly yet gently crawled into Error's arms and hugged him. Error held Fresh as he cuddled into his chest.

Error could see Horror opening his phone to call the others, so he decided to make a request.

He cleared his throat. "cH-ocO...lAtE…. MiLK?" Error managed to choke out his request.

Horror looked at him and nodded, then he spoke into the phone.

"Boss, Error woke up!" Horror exclaimed with pure joy. It seemed way too joyful, considering that Error was only passed out for a week. His eye lights had even turned into stars. "Actually, Error has asked for chocolate milk instead. Ok, great. Bye!" Horror quickly hung up the phone. "They'll be here in a bit." He told the three of them.

Error nodded, and Fresh just cuddled up more against his chest. He smiled gently and cradled the youngest closer. How had the two of them gotten to the hideout? Fresh didn't have enough magic, and they didn't have a phone to be able to contact Nightmare.

"How are you feeling, Error?" Horror asked as he walked over to them. Error opened his mouth to respond, but Dust cut him off.

"You probably shouldn't speak until you get the chocolate milk." He quickly rummaged through the nightstand until he retrieved a notebook and a pen. "Try using this instead." Dust handed him the items. Error definitely felt annoyed that he had to write instead of talk, but at the same time Dust did have a point.

Error just nodded and tried to position himself so that he would be able to write while still holding Fresh. Fresh realized the position Error was in, so he opted to hold the notepad for Error. 

**_thanks_ ** _.  _ Error scribbled down on the notepad. 

"It's totes no problem, brah!" Fresh smiled at him. "How are you feeling?" Fresh asked him in concern.

**_um, kinda weird. my chest hurts like heck, and i feel tired. i just want to go back to sleep in all honesty._ ** Error barely managed to censor himself on time.

"Your chest hurts?" Fresh asked in concern. Error nodded his head in confirmation.

Fresh seemingly wanted to ask another question, but was cut off by the door swinging open.

"Error! You're awake!" An excited voice shouted. Error got startled, looking up quickly. He could see Cross at the door, the other two gang members standing behind him.

"Error just woke up, Cross. You're going to need to be quieter than that." Nightmare chided the overexcited skeleton. 

The most important thing was that Nightmare was carrying the chocolate milk, which Error quickly picked up on.

Nightmare chuckled, probably sensing Error's desire for the milk.

"Of course the first thing you'd want after waking up is chocolate milk." Nightmare shook his head fondly. Error eagerly took the cup of chocolate milk off of Nightmare's hands, downing it immediately. Nightmare chuckled and softly pet Errors head. Error cleared his throat, which sent him into another coughing frenzy. Fresh quickly pat Errors back, and he sent him a thankful glance.

"i dOn't" *cough* "K-kNoW wHy yoU'd eVer t…..tHiNk" *cough cough* "i wAntED chOcoLatE mIlk. i clEarLy *cough* dOnT wAnT aNy." Error sarcastically commented.

"Oh really?" Nightmare smirked. "If you don't want any I guess I should just tell Blue to put back the pitcher of chocolate milk he brought up." Nightmare innocently commented. Error was having absolutely  _ none  _ of that.

*cough cough* "tHaT isNT neCesSarY, i'D glAdLy tAke tHat oFf oF hIs hAnDs." Error croaked out.

Nightmare grinned widely. "Hmm, if you say so. Blue, can you give him a refill?" Nightmare politely asked.

"Oh, um, ok!" Blue nodded and stepped forward, quickly refilling the cup. Blue hesitantly put the pitcher on the nightstand.

Error smiled thankfully at him. To be honest, his relationship with Blue is a little funny.

  
  


It's funny, because Blee is one of the people he trusted the most in the multiverse, and he is a part of the Star Sans'.

The two of them had first met when he had kidnapped the other, completely controlled by Fate. Error had a hard time recollecting a lot of the event that had transpired under the cruel entities' control, but the whole kidnapping spiel was hard to forget.

Well, actually it had been quite easy to forget, but it had been even easier to remember it.

When Blue had met the  _ real  _ him for the first time, he had had a panic attack. Error knew how to deal with panic attacks, since Fresh and Cross had to deal with them often. But it was weird why Blue, the newest member of the Star Sans', would have a panic attack seeing him. Why would he ever sign up to protect the multiverse if the mere sight of his enemy got him to panic? 

The whole thing had jogged his memories, and he felt so incredibly guilty afterwards. Leaving him with a compliment. Afterwards they had grown closer and closer, getting to know each other better.

Honestly, it did annoy him whenever they had to fight over an AU, especially since Blue ended up getting hurt oftentimes.

It's kinda nice to see the gang and Blue be around each other and stay peaceful. Error never would have thought that it would be possible, Blue being a part of the Star Sans' and all.

  
  


Wait…

  
  


If Blue was a part of the Star Sans',  _ why the  _ **_fuck_ ** _ was he in the hideout!? _

His eye sockets widened as he looked in the other in shock.

"Error? What's wrong?" Nightmare asked, quickly hovering over him in concern.

"wHY...WhY iS bLuE iN tHe hIdEouT?" Error asked in complete shock.

"Me? Oh, I joined the gang since I left the board." Blue shrugged.

What-?

  
  


Error blacked out. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, apparently 40k words are the minimum amount of words in a novel! And apparently, the average amount of words is around 50k-70k. That could be wrong, idk. So I've technically written a novel, cool! 
> 
> By the time this fic is over, It'll probably be the length of multiple novels tbh. Because knowing me, and (not) knowing how many chapters I have left, it's probably going to end up being over 100k words.
> 
> Again, I'm so sorry to have cut this chapter short! I am not sure if I would have been able to continue this convo from Errors POV tbh.


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Listen this was SUPPOSED to focus on Error learning everything he missed, but I never would have been able to write that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I didn't post on Sunday, why?
> 
> Firstly, I didn't even start on this chapter till Monday because I had zero motivation to write it. And secondly, I changed my uploading schedule.
> 
> I'm going back to school soon, and I am becoming busier and busier, so I won't be able to post 2 times a week. So now I'll be posting new chapters on Wednesdays. I can't promise that I'll post a new chapter every week, but I'll try to post as often as possible.

"What happened? Is he ok!?" Blue immediately cried out. Everyone else in the room quickly jumped forward to help Error.

"It appears that he's rebooting." Nightmare explained to the others. Sure enough just after he said that a loading bar appeared above the destroyer's head.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. They were all worried that Error was doing worse. But there was something else Blue was concerned about.

"Was… that… because of me?" Blue tentatively asked. He really hoped it wasn't because of him.

"Possibly." Nightmare responded. "Blue, you should probably leave the room before the reboot finishes." He suggested gently. Blue wasn't going to lie, that hurt a bit. But he knew it was better if he were to leave to be able to avoid another reboot.

"Yeah, will do." He mumbled, looking towards the ground.

Nightmare frowned at Blue for a second before looking away.

"Can someone go refill the chocolate milk, maybe even grab some food? I made a couple of different options." He asked gently.

"I'll go." Dust immediately offered, stepping forward and raising his hand

"Thank you, Dust." Nightmare smiled at his boy.

"Anything else?" Dust asked in response as he picked up the pitcher of chocolate milk.

"Maybe you should try tah get some pain killers for the broski over here?" Fresh shyly offered. That was bad. Fresh only ever started using heavy slang when he was around people he didn't know, or when he was stressed. In this situation, it was definitely the latter.

"Pain killers? Is that just a precaution or did he complain of pain?" Nightmare asked in concern, unconsciously hovering over Error in response.

"Error-brah told me that his chest was all up n hurtin." Fresh told him. Fresh quickly grabbed a notebook and handed it to Nightmare. When reading what was written down on in Blue noticed that Nightmares tentacled curled inwards towards him.

"Ok then, Dust, could you please grab the painkillers?" Nightmare asked. Another thing Blue noticed was that Nightmare's voice was much more strained.

"No problem Droopgoop." Dust smirked at the guardian of negativity.

"Seriously? Do you have to do this now?" Nightmare deadpanned, and Blue couldn't help but inwardly agree with Nightmare. Error wasn't doing so well, was now really the time for teasing!?

"Yeah." Dust laughed. "Call me when Error wakes up." Dust called as he exited the room, closing the door behind him.

"Will do!" Nightmare called back. "Blue, you need to leave now, this is a fast reboot he's already at 90%." Nightmare quickly reminded him.

"Oh, um, no problem…" Blue awkwardly mumbled. He didn't really want to leave Error. 

Cross must have realized this, because he quickly spoke up. "I can leave the room with you if it makes you less hesitant to leave?" He offered.

Blue couldn't help but feel happy that Cross offered to stay with him until he's allowed back in the room.

"Yeah, thanks Cross." Blue shyly smiled at the other, who smiled back. 

"It's no problem." Cross waved it off, walking over to Blue and grabbing his arm.

"I know you're worried, but we should leave now." Cross gently pulled Blue to the door.

"I'll call the two of you in as soon as possible." Nightmare called out, and Blue nodded. He shut the door behind them and Cross let go of his elbow.

"Here, we can go to my room for the time being." He offered, jerking his thumb towards the direction of his room.

"Um, sure." Blue awkwardly shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He felt kind of awkward being around Cross after his breakdown. 

Blue crossed his arms over his chest as he quietly followed Cross during the short trip to his room. He swiftly entered Cross' room and looked around awkwardly.

"You can sit down on the beanbag if you want. It's the comfiest place to sit on in the whole room." Cross pointed at the beanbag which was sitting in the corner of the room.

"Really?" Blue asked incredulously, the  _ beanbag  _ was the most comfortable thing in the room? 

"Yeah, Error made it!" Cross smiled. "He makes the absolute best stuff!" He praised Error with a huge grin. 

"Oh, it makes sense then. Error's beanbag in the Anti-void was literally the most comfortable thing I have ever sat on!" Blue exclaimed, now excited to try it out.

"Really? Error let you sit in  _ his  _ beanbag?" Cross asked in utter disbelief.

Blue went over to the beanbag and flopped down on it, giggling. " _ Really,  _ and this beanbag is just as comfortable as that one!" 

"I'm not that shocked, Error is the best at what he does after all." Cross replied as he sat down on the edge of his bed, facing toward Blue.

"Aren't you gonna sit here too?" Cross looked at Blue in surprise.

"But you're already sitting there." He explained, tilting his head to the side like a confused puppy.

"So? There's enough room for the two of us. Come and sit!" Blue patted part of the beanbag next to him. "Unless you'd rather not sit next to me of course, which is totally fine!" 

"No, it's ok. I'll come sit next to you, I just didn't want to be rude." Cross hurriedly explained, proceeding to sit next to Blue. 

"Rude? Why would that be considered rude? It's your beanbag after all, and it's definitely big enough for both of us to sit in it." Was it actually a rude thing and Blue was unaware of that all this time..?

"Well, I was taught growing up that you should always offer the most comfortable seat in the house to your guest, and if they don't want it then make sure they get the seat they want. And when you sit down respect their personal space and make sure not to sit too close. So, just sitting next to you unprompted seemed rude." Cross explained without missing a beat.

"Oh, interesting. Who taught you all that stuff?" Blue asked in curiosity.

"My mom, Toriel. She was always very adamant about teaching me stuff like manners." Cross smiled slightly.

"You were raised by Toriel?" Blue leaned in a bit closer to Cross, becoming even more interested in what he had to say.

"Yup. My brother and I were raised by her. Manners were constantly drilled into our heads. Not that I can complain really." Cross shrugged. "How about you?" He asked Blue.

"How about me what?" Now it was Blue's turn to be confused as he leaned back into his seat.

"Who were you raised by? Unless you don't want to answer, that's totally cool! Actually, that was a pretty rude question to ask… sorry." Cross quickly apologized, realizing his mistake.

"It's ok! Well, to be honest, I raised myself. My brother and I were homeless for as long as I can remember, I was the one who had to raise the two of us since I was the older one. I was forced to grow up at a young age." Blue looked off to the side.

"Oh, that's terrible, I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have asked you that question." Cross apologized, and Blue was quick to wave it off.

"It's fine, you didn't know." Blue insisted.

Cross was about to protest when he was cut off by a knock at the door.

"Boys? You can come see Error now." Nightmare opened the door slightly and poked his head in the room.

"Really!? That's great, come on Cross, get up!" Blue scrambled to his feet, pulling Cross up with him.

"Ok, ok! I'm getting up!" Cross laughed as Blue huffed and started pulling him out of the room.

  
  


Blue dragged Cross all the way to Error's room with Nightmare following close behind, shaking his head fondly.

"Error! Error, how are you feeling!?" Blue exclaimed the second the door opened.

"hEh, heY blUE. i'M totAllY dOinG oK, i'vE nEvEr bEeN beTtEr beFoRe iN mY liFe." Error dryly commented. "i mEan, anYoNe wOuld bE feElInG jUsT peAcHy afTer wAkiNg uP fRom a yEaR lOnG cOmA."

Blue snorted, quickly going to sit on the edge of the bed by Error.

Fresh was still cuddling Error, so it was a tiny bit cramped, but Blue couldn't care less.

"Ok, now that the two of them are here, we have a few more things to discuss." Nightmare went to stand next to Horror.

"clEarLy." Error commented.

"We need to discuss a way to get Fate's strings off of your soul." Nightmare addressed the room.

Everyone went eerily silent. Blue couldn't help but be confused. He still didn't get what 'Fate's strings' meant.

Nightmare must have sensed his confusion, because he addressed Blue next.

"Blue? Is there something you want to ask?" Nightmare asked.

"Oh, um, it's fine." Blue awkwardly laughed. 

"No, Blue. If you don't know something, ask. This is an extremely important topic and we all need to be on the same page here if we are going to discuss this." Nightmare informed him.

"... Um, when you say things like 'Fate's strings', what do you mean by that? I don't really get it… And why is it such a big deal?" Blue awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.

The whole room stared at Blue.

"bLuE, yOu rEmembEr wHeN i wAs inSaNe, rIgHt?" Error hesitantly asked.

"Like I could ever forget." Blue involuntary shuddered as memories of his kidnapping resurfaced.

"wEll, tHe reAsOn I wEnT inSaNe wAs beCaUsE oF fAtE coNtrOllIng Me." Error patiently explained.

"How did Fate control you?" Blue asked in confusion.

"They wrapped their strings around his soul." Nightmare answered softly in Error's place.

Oh…

Blue's eye sockets widened as he stared at Error in shock.

"Then why are you still acting like normal?" Blue asked. It didn't make sense, if Fate's strings were wrapped around his soul why wasn't he crazy?

"It appears that Destiny interfered." Nightmare explained. "Since Fate doesn't have full control over Error, they appear to not be able to make him do their bidding." Nightmare told him.

"Which is a good thing, since Error was totally unhinged under their full control!" Dust commented.

Everything in the room nodded at his words.

"Blue, would you like an explanation of who Fate and Destiny are?" Cross frowned at Blue curiously.

"Yes please, sorry…" Blue blushed slightly as he refused to make eye contact with anyone else.

"Don't apologize for that." Nightmare gently placed a tendril on Blue's shoulder.

"Fate and Destiny are basically gods. Imagine the gods from Reapertale, but much more powerful. They hold a much bigger influence on the multiverse and can change seemingly any aspect about it." Blue found himself zoning out while Nightmare was talking.

He couldn't exactly help it. And what made it worse was that he didn't have his fidget cube on him! 

Blue absentmindedly started playing with the tentacle, and he found that he could finally focus on the conversation. It was almost like a fidget toy.

"It's rumoured that they made the multiverse… do you understand now?"

"Yeah, I think so." Blue nodded.

"Good. Now, does anyone know a way to get the strings off?" Nightmare asked the room. He was met with silence.

"nIgHt, wErEn't yOU thE oNe wHo tOoK ThE stRinGS oFf iN tHE pAsT?" Error asked.

"Well, kind of. Technically Sci is the one to thank for that…" Nightmare hummed.

"In that case how did Sci take them off?" Dust asked.

"I actually don't know. He made a machine that was able to cut them. He kept the machine, and he never explained to me how it worked." Nightmare shrugged.

"Oh come on!" 

  
  


Ten minutes later, they still hadn't come to a conclusion.

"So try using a knife to cut them!" 

"But there's no way a normal knife would be able to cut it!"

"I dOn'T wAnt a kNiFe anYwhErE neAR mY sOuL tHank YoU vERy muCH. brIngs bAcK bAd memOriEs."

"Ok, Sci used a machine. How about we try making some machine powered knife?"

"i dON't wAnt A knIFe anYwhEre nEaR mY sOuL!"

  
  


Another ten minutes had passed.

Twenty.

Thirty.

Forty.

Fifty.

An hour.

They had gotten absolutely nowhere.

Everyone in the room had sat down at this point, Fresh had even fallen asleep.

Error had been complaining of chest pain more frequently as more time passed, and it just seemed pointless.

It seemed that there was no way that they would be able to take off the strings.

"So, do we just give up?" Cross sighed.

"For now probably. Let's go eat something, see if that helps us decide." Horror groaned.

"wAiT… thErEs one tHing that cOuld wOrK…" Error interrupted them.

"Really!? What is it!?" Blue exclaimed in shock.

Everybody leaned in slightly closer to Error, eagerly awaiting his answer.

"YoU nEEd to gET r-" Error cut himself off with violent hacking.

"Are you ok brah!?" Fresh exclaimed, scrambling off of Error in a hurry.

"CaN't….brEatHe" Error managed to wheeze out in between coughs.

Nightmare quickly pushed everyone aside, rushing to get to Error.

"Error!? What's-"

" yOu nEeD, tO gEt… rEaPer." Error managed to choke out.

They all watched in shock as Error passed out yet again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, in the last chapter (chapter 26), if you want in the long comment section BookwyrmFinallyGotAnAccount and I basically wrote a mini fic. (Seriously, over 400 comments!!). It's basically an alternative (happier) timeline.
> 
> Bookwyrm was actually the one who gave me the idea to have NM give Blue a tentacle to fidget with so that he can focus more on a convo. So thanks for that!


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We have a chapter from Freshs pov!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, my motivation is completely gone. I only started writing this chapter like, yesterday, because I didn't have the motivation to write, or I didn't have the patience. I'm ALSO not feeling well when it comes to my mental health, so there's that. I honestly feel tired in general, so these next few chapters might be a tiny bit lacking, sorry about that.
> 
> No trigger warnings apply for this chapter, but if there is a trigger warning that you think applys here, don't hesitate to let me know in thw comments.

At first, when Error passed out, they had all flocked to him. In the end, they couldn't identify just  _ why  _ he passed out. Of course, that worried them all. But what was even more worrying was the fact that for the next week he wouldn't wake up.

"What do we do?" Blue sighed, looking at them all for answers.

Fresh looked instinctively at Nightmare, he usually had answers.

Nightmare….. he didn't look too well. It was obvious that Fate messing around with Error stressed him out a lot, even though he tried not to show it. Well, to be fair, they all were worried.

"I don't...I don't really know." Nightmare looked at the ground, to Fresh it looked almost shameful.

They all showed their worry in different ways. Fresh tended to slip into 90s lingo more often-which he could tell sometimes annoyed the others- but they were patient with him.

Horror tended to stress eat, and he was getting more and more snappy recently. Even though he tended to target Blue the most out of all of them. Fresh got  _ why _ he had such a strong distaste for Blue, Horror had ranted to him once about the reason he didn't like Blue. It seems as of he blames the other for Killers death.

"Should we ask Reaper? Like Error requested?" Dust tentatively asked. Absolutely none of them wanted to talk to Reaper, it seemed like a recipe for disaster.

"Why don't we get Blue to do it? After all, he was on the board so he must have been all buddy-buddy with Reaper." Horror spat, uninterested.

Dust obsessed over books, looking for any way to try to solve this dilemma. Fresh had found him once passed out with his skull in a book at his desk. Normally, Nightmare would do something like that, not Dust. Actually, most of the time Dust couldn't stand reading. How stressed must he be to force himself to read for hours on end?

"I don't think he's going to want to talk to me… he probably hates my guts." Blue cringed. Everyone in the room looked confused at Blue's words. Wasn't Reaper his ally? Why..?

Cross was much more cuddly than normal. He could be seen oftentimes cuddling someone from the gang, excluding Error and Blue. The training room was the room that Cross was actually seen the most in. It made sense that that was where Cross would go, considering his royal guard training…

Another thing is that, like Horror, Cross was also much snappier. Even though he didn't seem to have a specific target, he was much less insulting, and he would always vigorously apologize directly afterwards.

"Why the f(un) would Reaper not want to talk to you?" Horror snapped, clearly irritated.

"Well, I was a part of the board when they made the decision to lock Aftertale, he probably thinks that I was in on the decision." Blue explained, fidgeting slightly.

Nightmare was definitely stress cooking, and cleaning, and organizing…

It was almost like having a maid, with all of the housework that Nightmare constantly does. Because of how many people live in the hideout, the place usually looks like a tornado ransacked it, but it currently looked extremely neat and tidy. Nightmare seemed slightly more nervous as well. 

Fresh also noticed the fact that Nightmare was obvious distancing himself from them. There were also other things like how Nightmare was less strategic, and how he didn't seem to think as rationally as before. 

"You weren't part of the decision to lock Aftertale?" Cross asked in confusion.

"No, I wasn't. But you just proved my part. If even  _ you guys  _ think that I was part of the decision, imagine how mad Reaper's going to be." Blue explained.

"Is there a way you'd be able to explain the situation to him?" Nightmare proposed.

Blue is like Nightmare in a way, when it comes to stress. He was cleaning a lot, whenever Nightmare would be cooking he always asked to help him, he has distanced himself a bit, and he also goes to the training room way more often.

Blue also seemed to apologize a lot… Thinking about it, a lot of Blue's behaviour seemed odd. Weird…

"Probably, but I am unsure if I will really get the chance." Blue sighed.

"But we have to do this! Error said we need to get Reaper, so we should do it! It may not help us get Fates strings off, but we have to try as many options as we possibly can to remove them!" Cross looked determined as he monologued.

Fresh was much more observant than people gave him credit for. Well, years of being abused have made him constantly stay on his toes; watching peoples behaviour to make sure they won't hurt him- he got good at telling what other people gave him credit for. Another thing Fresh constantly had to look out for was whether or not someone was following him, especially when he went to the hideout. Fresh had been followed many more times than he can even remember.

"You're right, Cross. We're just going to need to find the safest way to do this, we do not want Reaper to attack us." Nightmare groaned. Absolutely nobody wanted to do this, but it seemed as if they had to.

They all looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

Blue tentatively raised his hand. 

"I can go? I mean, we've known each other for a couple of years, hopefully, he'll hear me out?" Blue suggested.

"But baby-blue, what if he rats you out to the Star Sans'!?" Dust exclaimed in worry.

"He probabl-  _ hopefully _ , won't do that. Not if I explain the situation to him." Blue curled in on himself, looking extremely unsure.

"Well, Blue shouldn't go alone, right? At least one of us should probably go with him." Cross looked really worried.

"None of you are going with him, I will not risk putting you in danger." Nightmare declared immediately after.

"Does that mean you'll be going with him?" Dust asked Nightmare.

"I suppose." Nightmare sighed.

"When are you going to go?" Horror pipped up.

"As soon as possible, so how about tomorrow?" Nightmare suggested.

Blue immediately nodded. "Yeah, tomorrow sounds good. We'll probably have to keep an eye on the time, so we don't disturb them at 3 in the morning or something like that." Blue hummed thoughtfully.

"Them?" Cross asked.

"Reaper, Geno, and Papyrus. Last I checked, they all lived together." Blue explained.

Fresh frowned at Blues words, this plan sounded extremely unstable.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Fresh asked.

Blue sighed, looking unsure. "I'm not really sure about that. But for Errors sake, let's hope it does."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On a lighter note, on both chapters 26 and 27, there are two mini fics between me and BookwyrmFinallyGotAnAccount. They are both alternate timelines to this fic, and they are both long, and they are both ongoing. In the first fic, we deadass have full character arcs and everything. So yeah, you can check that out if you want to.


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue panics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! So you may notice when you scroll down to the bottom that there is a fic inspired by this one named Redemption. That's actually my fic! It's basically a fic version of my comment thread with Bookwyrm that is over 1k comments long.... damn.
> 
> Trigger warnings  
> -A character suffers from a panic attack this chapter

Blue was undoubtedly nervous. Actually, nervous was an understatement. Blue was anxious. Pacing around his room, Blue was trembling.

Was it really safe for him to go to a household where the gods of death lived after his co-workers undoubtedly pissed them off? And to bring one of the multiverses most hated people, while asking one of them to help the other most hated monster. Oh, and Reaper probably had the misconception that he helped lock Aftertale, great! 

Would he even be able to get past Geno? Who would most likely be the maddest from all of them? He was the one most affected by the AU being locked after all.

God, they probably hated him. No, they _did_ hate him. What would happen once he made it there? Would they attack him, either verbally or physically?

Blue knows that Nightmare promised to protect him if that were to happen, but what if Nightmare changed his mind? 

Blue was useless to Nightmare, and Nightmare didn't care about him. It wasn't possible to care about him, so why should he help? Hell, Nightmare probably believes that Blue deserves it!

  
  


At this point, Blue could feel that he was way too worked up, so he took a deep breath in.

He immediately started pacing again. He couldn't help it! He was way too anxious to sit still, and he didn't have the patience to do it either.

Suddenly, the sound of knocking echoes throughout the room. "Come in!" Blue quickly cried out. The door to his room was opened, and Blue whipped around to see who it was.

Nightmare was standing attentively at the doorway, watching Blue.

"Hi...Nightmare." Blue waved awkwardly, noticing how hard he was shaking.

"You need to calm down, Blue." Nightmare sighed.

"S-sorry." Blue stuttered out slightly, trembling as he looked away.

Nightmare watched him for a moment, and then sighed again. "It's not time for us to go yet, but follow me to the kitchen." Nightmare gently instructed of Blue, who nodded shakily, following him out of the room.

Blue was trembling so hard that he could barely walk. He was playing with the hem of his shirt as he stared at the ground, barely preventing himself from collapsing right then and there.

Nightmare suddenly turned towards Blue, watching him intensely. "Can you walk?" He asked Blue, who shakily nodded.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." He insisted, but Nightmare didn't exactly look convinced.

"No, you can't." Nightmare rebutted, quickly using a couple of tentacles to scoop Blue up.

"W-what!?" Blue stuttered out in shock, looking at Nightmare for an explanation.

"You're shaking so hard you can barely walk, so it's quicker this way." Nightmare explained. 

Blue blushed and looked away awkwardly. But he couldn't deny that it did feel kind of nice. He would have probably collapsed if he continued walking himself.

Nightmare walked down the hallway carrying Blue, the both of them staying silent and refusing to speak to each other.

They managed to make it to the kitchen, and Nightmare dragged a chair from the living room over to the kitchen island. "Sit." Nightmare told Blue as he gently sat him down on the chair.

Blue obliged, staying as still as he possibly could at the island. He curiously watched Nightmare bustle around the kitchen and anxiously jiggled his leg. What was Nightmare doing?

"Umm, what are you doing?" Blue shakily asked.

"I'm making you some chamomile tea, you're too anxious and chamomile tea is known to help alleviate anxiety." Nightmare quickly answered; and Blue could see him putting a tea kettle on the stove.

When the tea was done, Nightmare quickly poured some in a mug and placed it in front of Blue, who was shaking even harder than before. Blue could also feel something wet slide down his cheeks, and dully processed the fact that he was crying. When did he start crying?

"Be careful, it's hot." Nightmare warned him as he watched him in concern.

"I-it's ok." Blue trembled as he reached out for the mug.

Blue tried to pick up the mug, but found that that was much harder than it should be. He was shaking so hard that he couldn't hold the mug still, and some tea poured out of it. Nightmare quickly darted forward and took the mug off of Blue's hands.

Blue found that he couldn't help it as he curled up into the fetal position and he started crying just a little bit harder. His breath was also much more uneven.

Why was he acting like this? This wasn't normal for him.

"Blue? Blue, can you hear me?" Nightmare asked in concern, pulling Blue's chair away from the table and kneeling on one knee in front of Blue.

"I- I don't know. Why- what's happening to me? Why-?" Blue shakily asked, his voice choking on a sob.

"Blue, you seem to be having a panic attack. Can you breathe in for me, I want you to breathe in for 4 seconds." Nightmare gently instructed Blue.

  
  


_An anxiety attack?_

_Anxiety attacks don't look like this, do they?_

_Anxiety attacks are much more intense._

_Don't you usually feel like you're dying during those?_

_This can't be._

_I'm overreacting._

But Blue did what Nightmare told him to do, and found that the knot in his metaphorical stomach loosened a bit.

_Hmm, when did he start feeling like that?_

  
  


Nightmare continued to instruct him through the breathing exercise, but Blue found that not much changed.

"C-can I have." Blue stuttered out.

"What? What do you need?" Nightmare asked.

"Can I have a h-hug?" Blue shakily asked, and Nightmare nodded.

Blue was almost immediately scooped up by Nightmare, who gently held him to his chest. Nightmare's tentacles surrounded him gently, and Blue found himself crying into Nightmare's shirt.

"C-can you squeeze? P-please?" Blue asked, and Nightmare looked at him puzzled.

"You want me to squeeze?" He asked, and Blue nodded.

Nightmare hesitantly squeezed gently, looking at Blue to test his reaction.

It was actually pretty calming. Blue tried to do the breathing exercise Nightmare was instructing him to do earlier. Nightmare caught on to this, and started counting for Blue.

  
  


Soon enough, it was over.

Blue pulled back from Nightmare's chest.

"Sorry." He meekly apologized, wiping away his tears.

"Never apologize for having an anxiety attack." Nightmare told him softly and opened up his tentacles to allow Blue to leave.

"But surely that wasn't an anxiety attack? Those are usually much more intense?" Blue shakily stood up, using the chair for support.

Nightmare stood up as well and shook his head.

"Sometimes, but not all of the time. There are different intensities to anxiety attacks." He explained gently.

Blue nodded and sat back down. 

"Wow, I really am a m-mess." He laughed self deprecatingly as he reached for the mug again.

He was able to properly pick it up this time.

The two of them spent the rest of the time in the kitchen, with Nightmare trying to calm Blue down.

"It's time to leave, Blue." Nightmare gently told him as he took his cup away.

"Oh, is it that time already?" Blue asked in shock.

"Don't ask me that like you didn't ask me every other minute if it was time to leave yet." Nightmare sighed.

"Let's go to the training room to open up the portal." Nightmare turned to leave, and Blue followed suit.

If he found the choice of the training room odd, he didn't speak up about it.

The two of them arrived in the training room, and Nightmare locked the door.

"I don't want one of the others to try to sneak in with us." Nightmare explained to a confused Blue.

"Are you going to be ok with this?" Nightmare asked Blue, who nodded.

Nightmare studied him for a second, but then turned around to open the portal.

Blue stared at the black portal, and at the skeleton standing in front of it. Nightmare was peering in the portal, a look of intense concentration on his face.

"Will we be safe?" Blue asked Nightmare, stepping beside him.

"We'll see." Nightmare simply responded.

~~~~

Blue quickly knocked on the front door, then ran to hide behind Nightmare. He wasn't taking any chances, ok!?

The two of them stood in silence, and blue was wringing the hem of his shirt in anticipation.

The door swung open to reveal Geno standing there in his pyjamas.

"...Hello?" Blue awkwardly waved, which set Geno into motion. Geno quickly attempted to shut the door on them, but the two of them quickly moved to keep the door open.

"Get out." Geno growled, his eye light glowing.

"No, wait, please Geno, we need to talk to Reaper!" Blue quickly pleaded with him.

"Why the fuck do you need to talk to him?" Geno glared at Blue. Nightmare stepped in for Blue, sensing his returning anxiety.

"We need to ask for a favour from him." Nightmare patiently explained. "We aren't here to hurt you or him, we just need a small favour that really won't cost him anything." Nightmare moved slightly to hide Blue behind him as Geno's glare sharpened.

"Why do you need help from Reaper? And why would any of us help you?" Geno demanded.

"If Reaper does this, he will most likely have one less soul to reap. And why wouldn't he help Blue? He used to be a Star Sans, after all." Nightmare shrugged.

Blue felt a tentacle wrap around his wrist, it was comforting. He gently fidgeted with it. If this bothered Nightmare, he didn't show it.

"Blue was part of a plan to lock my AU, making it inaccessible to me. He also had a reporter harass me and my boyfriend out on a date, why would we want to help him?" Geno snarled, and Blue flinched.

"I wasn't actually in charge of the decision making for both of those decisions, actually. That was all Ink and Dream." Blue mumbled, and Geno squinted at him.

"Aren't you one of the figures on the board with the highest authority? Why weren't you part of the decision making?" Geno looked apprehensive.

"Well, with the thing with Red, I wasn't informed of this decision until after the report. And with locking Aftertale, I wasn't informed of that until after it was locked. And I wasn't involved in the whole scheme, because the two of them got the whole board to lie to me about the plan." Blue explained nervously, playing more with the tendril.

Geno looked slightly taken aback.

"You had no involvement with this plan?" Geno asked, to which Blue nodded.

Geno squinted at the two of them again, and then sighed, moving aside and pulling the door open.

"Don't fucking try anything." He warned the two of them, who nodded.

Nightmare and Blue walked into the house and were instantly overwhelmed by the smell of pie.

Blue looked around as Geno shut the door behind them, and he saw that a large pie was cooling on the table. Judging by the smell, it was a cinnamon-butterscotch pie. Life had obviously been over.

Blue noticed how the house had the same layout at the classic skelebros house, only a bit bigger. And there were a few differences with the furniture. To their right, where there would normally be a table, there was a black leather couch. The carpet was also black. 

There was another couch in the room in the exact same place that the classic house had it. But it was instead a new looking plush sofa. There also was a coffee table seated in front of it and a black armchair. 

The TV was also in the same place as in the Undertale AU, but it was seated on a quite fancy looking tv stand. Blue noticed an artificial fire roaring in the fireplace. There were also quite a few framed photos of Reaper, Respite, and Geno. Geno looked grumpy in a lot of them, but Blue could tell that he was secretly happy in all of them.

The kitchen was much larger than the Undertale one, and it actually had a normal-sized sink. There was also a big dining table in the middle of the room that was holding the sacred pie.

"Sit." Geno commanded, ushering Blue to the white sofa. Nightmare refused to move, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'd rather not sit there." Nightmare countered, standing stubbornly.

_"It wasn't a question."_ Geno growled, and Blue tugged on the tendril lightly.

"It's easier if you just sit." He quietly told Nightmare, who sighed. Nightmare walked over and quietly sat beside Blue.

"What's going on? Why are _you_ two here together?" Geno demanded, standing in front of them with his hands on his hips.

"I decided to assist one of my gang members in getting Reaper." Nightmare said coldly, looking at Geno is a critical manner.

"So Blue…. joined your gang?" Geno asked in obvious confusion, and Blue nodded. "Why?" Geno crossed his arms suspiciously, glaring at the two of them again.

"I… I didn't have anywhere to go. So Nightmare took me in." Blue shifted uncomfortably and looked off to the side.

"Couldn't you have just stayed with Ink and Dream, since you were in a relationship with them?" Geno asked and Blue froze.

  
  


Honestly, with everything that happened, he almost forgot that the three of them were in a queerplatonic relationship. Even though he left them…. they never really 'broke up'. Does that mean he was still in a relationship with them? ….Was it wrong for him to leave them? 

Blue felt Nightmare tense up, and the tendril around his wrist tightened. What was wrong??? 

  
  


Wait.

Blue never told the gang about his relationship status with the Star Sans'.

  
  
  


….Fuck.

  
  
  


"You were in a relationship with my brother?" Nightmare asked in shock, looking towards Blue. Blue opened and closed his mouth, unsure of how to respond. Geno raised a brow bone at the situation.

"Not a romantic one… the three of us had a polyamorous queerplatonic relationship actually." Blue hesitantly explained. Nightmare gave him a curious look, appearing to study him for a moment. But then he redirected his attention towards Geno.

"Where's Reaper? We need to talk to _him_ , not _you._ " Nightmare looked impatient.

"He's still at work, but he should be here any minute now. Have a little patience." Geno growled out. 

Nightmare and Geno glared at each other until Geno arrived. Blue couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief at the god of death's presence. The atmosphere before was so suffocatingly negative that Blue felt as if he were going to choke.

The door opened and everyone turned to look at it. Actually, no. That's what Blue _thought_ was going to happen, but it couldn't be farther from the truth.

Reaper just appeared out of thin air behind Geno. He was laying on his stomach mid-air whilst looking at Geno with the biggest shit-eating grin Blue had ever seen before.

"Oh Gen~, you didn't tell me that you invited friends over.~" Reaper sang as Geno yelped.

Reaper narrowly dodged a bone attack from a startled Geno.

"Asshole! Don't scare me like that!" Geno hissed and Reaper chuckled. "I could have hurt you!" Geno glared at the god.

"Gen, I'm the god of death. You can't actually hurt me." Reaper shook his head fondly.

"Anyway, that's some really interesting company you have there. What's the occasion?" Reaper teased while expressing genuine confusion.

Nightmare immediately stood up and cleared his throat. "I'm aware that you do not owe us anything. But, we would appreciate it if you could help us with a friend who is suffering." Nightmare smoothly told Reaper. Geno looked extremely confused, furrowing his brow bone in confusion.

"Who would this friend happen to be?" Reaper asked, rearranging himself to stand next to Geno.

"Erro- The destroyer." Blue hastily answered as he stood up next to Nightmare.

Geno's eye light went out in shock. 

"What!? He would never do that!!" Geno cried out, only to have Reaper stop him.

"Where is he? Take me to him right now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALSO, I FINALLY GOT A TUMBLR!!
> 
> You can find me at call-me-diva2.tumblr.com  
> Come and harass me if you want, you may even get hints at what is going to happen in this fic~


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reaper attempts to cut the strings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the vast majority of this chapter was written today, yay? I've been going through a bit of writers block, how fun.
> 
> This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I didn't want to update it late. Hey, at least there's more Fresh in this!

They were all shocked at Reapers insistence, but neither Nightmare nor Blue complained.

Geno, on the other hand, had quite a few complaints.

They had spent around half an hour just arguing with Geno, who only let up when he was sure that Reaper was ok with it.

Nightmare instantly started putting in place as many privacy measures as possible, to ensure that Reaper wouldn't leak the location of the hideout.

"I want to come too." Geno spoke up, glaring at Nightmare.

"What? Gen, how come?" Reaper asked in confusion, floating over to him and gently grabbing his hand.

"I want to make sure you're safe." Geno huffed, still glaring at a certain guardian who was ignoring him.

"Gen, I'm death. I'll be fine." Reaper tried to assure Geno, who refused to listen.

"I'm coming." He declared, and Nightmare glanced at him.

"Fine. But do be aware of this, if you double-cross us and try to hurt one of us, you will greatly regret it." Nightmare threatened, starting to prepare a portal.

"Really? What's the worst you can do, kill me?" Geno scoffed. Nightmares face got more malicious as he responded.

"Kill you? That's not really my thing. You were in a constant cycle of murder, correct? The pain of watching your family and friends die over and over again must have been agonizing, correct? But it seems that you, fortunately, got out of the cycle. 

If you double-cross us….. you'll get stuck in that same cycle, but this time you're never getting out of it." Nightmare threatened, and Geno refused to say anything.

"Well then, let's go!" Reaper tried to brighten up the mood.

Huh, that's kind of weird. Why is  _ Reaper _ of all people trying to cheer them up? Blue probably should be the one to do that…. he  _ used  _ to be the one to do that. But nowadays he can barely make himself feel better.

The tendril on his wrist tightened and Blue looked up, Nightmare was watching him, standing by the portal. 

They all quickly stepped through the dark portal and it promptly shut behind them.

  
  


~~~~

  
  


Fresh refused the food Horror had offered him. He was just too anxious to eat nowadays. 

They were all in the living room, waiting for Nightmare and Blue to hopefully return with Reaper. 

_ What if something bad happened to them?  _

That was the thought that kept on crossing his mind. And studying the others tense body language they felt a similar way. There were  _ so many  _ things that could go wrong. So many ways that one of them could die-

Fresh should probably try to calm himself down, maybe he should try calming down someone else too?

He noticed that Cross appeared to be much tenser than the rest of them, his body language stiff and rigid. His eye lights looked incredibly unfocused from where he was sat on the couch. He had to do something.

"Cross, I think I need cuddles." Fresh told the monochrome clad skeleton, quickly scooting over to the other.

Cross looked up at him, a mixture of shock, anxiety, and relief on his face. Most people wouldn't have been able to read the emotions on his face; Cross' royal guard training taught him to have one of the best poker faces Fresh had ever seen. But, Fresh wasn't most people, and Fresh gas mastered the art of reading people. It was a skill he learned from an early age to be able to survive.

"S-sure." Cross stuttered out, opening his arms for Fresh to crawl in them.

Fresh quickly curled up on Cross' lap, nuzzling his head into the chest of the other. Cross let out a sigh of relief and hugged Fresh loosely, nuzzling the top of his skull. 

_ Ah, there it is. _

Nuzzling even closer to Cross, Fresh could feel his emotions shutting off.

Due to all the trauma that he has had to go through for years on end, Fresh had a sort of….problem.

Whenever his emotions got too overwhelming, they got shut down. And if it's bad enough, he may even dissociate.

When this started, it just made the rumours of him being a 'soul-eating parasite' seem even more plausible.

He gripped tighter onto Cross, shutting his eye sockets and letting himself fall into the sweet emotionless abyss.

Honestly, Fresh didn't really need the physical comfort, but Cross definitely did. 

He could feel the tension leaving the others body, how he gently pet his skull, how his breathing evened out. Cross was  _ way  _ too anxious.

Cross almost always calmed down after physical affection, making him an anomaly in the gang- except for  _ maybe  _ Blue.

Almost everyone in the gang had been physically abused or scarred in one way or another.

Dust- murdered over and over and  _ over  _ again.

Horror- Murdered multiple times, starved for years on end, mutilated beyond repair.

Fresh: Beaten to the brink of death consistently for years on end, still an ongoing endeavour.

Nightmare: Fresh is unsure of exactly what happened to him, but he has an obvious touch aversion consistent with victims of physical abuse. 

Cross was the only one of them who wasn't physically abused.

Actually, that was a lie. Cross had been physically abused for a short while, but the mental abuse had been much,  _ much, _ worse.

XGaster had been quite sadistic, driving himself to madness in his impossible quest to create the perfect AU.

He had obviously put the Frisk and Chara through a lot of mental torment already, but it didn't seem to be enough.

Cross had been unfortunate enough to mess with him one timeline, and that set Cross up as Gasters newest target.

Fresh doesn't know any of the specifics of what happened to Cross, but it has been described as 'mental torture' before.

XGaster had pushed Cross to the brink of insanity many times, forcing him to suffer over and over again. Nobody ever told him any details, but Fresh can only guess how bad it must have been. 

Cross was an extremely open person, but according to Nightmare he still refuses to talk about the majority of things that went on in Xtale.

  
  
  


Blue….. he seemed to be a complicated case.

Something happened to him, that was obvious. Fresh suspected abuse, based on the way he was acting. What type of abuse? He wasn't exactly sure.

Fresh couldn't help but wonder if Nightmare realized something was up. Normally, he wouldn't doubt that Nightmare knew, but after Killers death….

Nightmare was different now.

  
  


They all startled when a portal opened up in the middle of the room, four figures emerging from it.

"He agreed!?" Cross gasped as Reaper walked through the portal. Fresh scrambled off of Cross' lap and he couldn't help but gape at the two of them.  _ Two of them. _

Geno stood almost protectively in front of Reaper, glaring at them. Almost as if he was daring them,  _ just try to hurt him and see what happens. _

The smaller skeleton was obviously distressed about being here, while oddly enough Reaper didn't seem distressed at all.

"Where is he?" Reaper asked urgently. Everyone in the room looked shocked at his eagerness.

"In his room. We'll all escort you there." Nightmare responded curtly, snapping everyone to their senses. Fresh, Cross, Horror, and Dust all crowded around Blue and Nightmare.

Reaper nodded at Nightmares words and Geno frowned impatiently. The group made their way upstairs, but Fresh couldn't help but notice that Blue seemed….off.

Actually, he seemed overwhelmed. Fresh paused a bit, letting himself fall back a bit. He pulled Blue away from the others, watching his confused expression.

"You ok, brah? You were looking a little overwhelmed there." Fresh whispered, and Blue just nodded.

"I'm fine….let's just go." Fresh noted how faint Blue's voice sounded as they continued walking. They quickly arrived outside of Errors room, and they all paused. 

Nightmare opened the door and allowed Geno alongside Reaper to step in first.

"Stay on the left side of him, near the bed. But don't touch him, Reaper. We need to keep you two separated from the others." Nightmare commanded, and Reaper nodded as he started to pull Geno towards the recommended spot. Geno appeared to be upset with the prospect of listening to  _ another  _ one of Nightmares requests, but went along with it.

"The rest of you, we're going to stay on his right side." Nightmare told the rest of them, and they all complied without protest.

Reaper appeared to be hovering over Error in concern, looking confused as he stared up at them. 

"His soul is crying out in pain, almost as if it's been continuously tortured.  _ What have you been doing to him?"  _ Reaper looked homicidal, glaring at them.

Fresh immediately shook his head, and the rest of the gang (except for Nightmare) let out outraged cries at the claim.

"It wasn't us." He briskly exclaimed, walking over to Errors soul and promptly summoning it, showing Reaper the source of the distress.

Bright red and blue strings squeezing Errors soul as hard as possible.

Genos eye light shrunk in shock, and Reaper hovered his hand over Errors soul tentatively. 

"Whose magic is this? I don't recognize it…." Reaper muttered, looking at them in confusion.

"Are you aware of Fate?" Nightmare asked and Reaper tilted his head to the side.

"The concept of Fate..?"

"No, the deities." Nightmare quickly corrected him, and Reaper shook his head.

"What deities? As in gods? Wouldn't Reaper be aware of them?" Gemo scoffed as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"No. They are higher ranking gods than him." Nightmare corrected.

Higher ranking gods..?

"What rank?" Reaper immediately asked.

"First rank." Nightmare cooly replied and Reaper retracted his hand in shock.

_ "First rank?"  _ He whispered hoarsely, shock clear as day. "Why would a  _ first rank  _ god target a specific individual  _ like this?"  _ Reaper asked, clutching Genos closet hand in distress.

"It seems that Fate has targeted him his entire existence, forcing him to destroy AUs in order to combat Inks creation of the AUs." Nightmare explained. Reaper frowned even more.

"That's impossible…" he seemingly muttered to himself. "Is that how he ended up like..?" Reapers mutterings trailed off.

"I'm assuming you were unable to take the strings off yourself?" Reaper asked them, earning a nod from Nightmare.

"We tried for quite some time, but we failed. Error had woken up, and was awake for a while before passing out. But before passing out, he told us to contact you." Nightmare explained, and Reaper nodded.

"I need to cut the strings with my scythe." Reaper explained, and everyone jolted.

"You can't do that, won't that kill him!?" Cross exclaimed, mask cracking.

"What the fuck are you trying to do here?" Horror demanded, and Geno started to get aggressive.

"Hey, why don't you hear him out first!? You ask him for his help, but then get mad at him when he suggests a way to help!?" Geno growled.

"Hey, it's ok." Reaper tried to soothe Geno, who ignored him.

Fresh flinched back, hiding behind Blue slightly. He didn't like it when people were aggressive.

Nightmare immediately raised his voice. "ENOUGH. Reaper, are you attempting to kill Error here?" Nightmare questioned, and Reaper immediately shook his head.

"I'm not. My scythe can't kill Error, but it should be able to cut the strings." Reaper explained.

Fresh looked at Reaper in a puzzled manner. Reaper said that as if it was a fact… how did he know that?

Nightmare scrutinized him, as if looking for a lie. Seemingly not finding one, he nodded.

"Be careful." He instructed, and Reaper nodded.

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait for a second! How do you  _ know  _ your scythe can't kill him???" Dust exclaimed, and Reaper looked a bit sheepish. 

"Yeah, you guys probably have a lot of questions… I'll explain everything after I get the strings off of his soul." Reaper consoled as he summoned his scythe.

He quickly let go of Genos hand and grabbed Errors instead, quickly rubbing it with his thumb. 

Reaper cautiously approached the soul and Fresh could feel Blue tense up beside him. He quickly nuzzled Blue's shoulder as Reaper positioned the scythe at the vulnerable soul.

He lined it up at the top of the soul, and in one swift movement dragged it down the entire soul.

There was a visible cut as the strings started to lose their colour, withering up and falling away.

They all let out a collective breath as they finally got to see Errors soul for the first time in months. There was a crack in it, and it seemed less vibrant than usual, but it was out of Fates strings.

_ Error was once again released from Fates control. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me over on Tumblr at call-me-diva2.tumblr.com


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reaper explains a TINY bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there!
> 
> This chapter was originally going to be much longer and include Reaper explaining stuff to Geno in private, but I decided that I'm going to put that part in TEPSE soon instead.
> 
> Also, my uploading schedule will now be slightly different. Instead of every Wednesday it will just be Wednesdays. 
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER
> 
> -Mentions of death

The soul was cracked. Thin, barely noticeable, lines running over the fluttering surface of the destroyers soul. Reaper was probably the only person in the room who could see this, since he had the most experience with dying souls.  _ Those strings must have been constricting his soul so hard that the soul cracked under the pressure.  _ Reaper hummed in thought as he leaned forward, taking a closer look at the soul. Error had obviously suffered from an excess amount of magic at some point. There were scorch marks all over the soul that led Reaper to this conclusion. But the marks were fainter now, probably from a few months ago, but not so long ago. The soul was shoddily healed, Error definitely needed some more hp food to help it recover. Some of life's food could probably help with making sure Error gets completely healed. The soul was also way too pale for Reapers liking, and the beating was much slower than what was healthy.  _ Yep, I’m definitely gonna have to use that favor from Tori. _

“Are we gonna get, I dunno,  _ answers now. _ ” The extremely adorable grouchy voice came from behind him. Reaper turned around and sure enough, Geno was glaring at him. 

“Answers? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Reaper innocently shrugged, looking back at Error. It probably wasn’t the smartest idea to tease Geno, especially in front of Nightmares gang (plus Blue), but it was a habit of his by this point.

_ “You know what I’m fucking talking about asshole.”  _ Geno hissed and Reaper could  _ feel  _ his glare become colder.

…There was admittedly a  _ lot _ that Reaper had to explain, but he was scared. Scared that it would ruin his relationship with Geno. Scared of tarnishing both his  _ and  _ Errors reputations. Scared of placing a target on both of their backs. But, it wasn’t fair of him to keep these secrets from Geno (and the gang, even though Reaper wasn’t really thinking of them.).

“I guess…... I should explain.” Reaper sighed, looking back at Geno again, then looking at the gang. “You probably have questions too?” He offered, to which they nodded.

“I have a couple in regards to your relationship with Error.” Nightmare cooly responded, and Reaper nodded his head.

_ Stars, with Geno here too. This is going to be awkward. _

“Why were you so insistent on helping Error? Considering his status as the god of destruction, and your status as the eldest god of death, it doesn’t make sense.” Nightmare asked Reaper, Geno’s stare boring holes into the back of his skull as he looked down at Errors sleeping form.

“I wanted to help Error… because I care about him.” Reaper hesitantly answered,

_ Please don’t ask me why please don’t ask me why please don’t ask me why please don’t ask me- _

“What the hell, Reaper? Why do you care about  _ Error  _ of all people?” The exasperated huff came from his boyfriend. 

  
  
  


Reaper adamantly looked at everything and everyone  _ other  _ than Geno as he mentally prepared himself.

“Well, you see, Error and I are quite close.” Reaper chuckled awkwardly.  _ There, that should be enough, right?  _ Reaper prayed that this would be the case. But of course, he was wrong.

“Why did you two become close? And when? Your emotions on this matter are off, and I want to know why.” Came the pushy demands from Nightmare.  _ Damn it.  _ There was no way to lie out of this one.

“Haha, well, we’ve known each other for quite some time.” Reaper laughed awkwardly, sheepishly

"How?" Nightmare pried further into uncomfortably private territory. It was admittedly weird for Reaper, being the centre of attention in a crowded room like this. It was suffocating in a way.

Especially knowing what they're asking him.

"Error…..Error is my ex." Reaper flinched as soon as the words came out of his mouth.

  
  
  


It was torture as he sat in silence for a few seconds. All of the shocked eye lights on him seemed to burn, and the one that burned the brightest came from beside him. It was like sitting next to a ticking time bomb as Geno was  _ completely silent.  _ Reaper could only hold his breath and wait for the explosion, hoping against all odds that the reaction won't be too bad.

"You dated the  _ destroyer of worlds..? _ Reaper,  _ what the  _ **_fuck_ ** _. _ " Geno's disbelieving words harshly cut the deafening silence. That was...admittedly a better answer than Reaper expected. "Reaper, why? Why would you do that..? He's killed so many people…" Geno's voice trailed off, shock imminent in his tone.

"When I dated him… he wasn't really the destroyer of worlds. He was harmless for the most part." Reaper explained, causing everyone to be even  _ more  _ shocked.

"Wait!? What do you mean  _ before  _ he was the destroyer!?" Dust exclaimed as he waved his hands around.

"That isn't my story to tell. It's his. It wouldn't be fair to him to disclose that information without his consent. And to be clear, I won't be disclosing any more information related to our relationship, I don't know what Error would be ok with me sharing." Reaper spoke with such a tone of finality that everyone in the room nodded. Well, everyone except for one person.

  
  


Geno.

  
  
  


As everyone verbally agreed with Reapers statement, Geno stayed silent.  _ Reaper would have to explain it to him when they get home, he doesn't have a choice at this point. _

  
  


"I have another question unrelated to that topic." Horror spoke up, and everyone (excluding Geno, who was still staring at Reaper in disbelief) turned to look at him. "Why did you know it was safe to put your scythe so close to his soul? You could've killed him." Horror gruffly stated, displeasure leaking into his tone.

"That isn't my story to tell either. You'll have to ask Error." Reaper sighed. He knew that nobody would be happy with that answer.

"Why can't you tell us  _ anything!?"  _ Dust huffed out in frustration.

"There is a lot I can tell you, you're just not asking the right questions." Reaper calmly replied.

"How about this question: why was your scythe able to cut off the strings? Are you able to answer that?" Fresh piped up.

_ Finally,  _ a question that Reaper could answer that wasn't overly personal.

"The reason that I could cut off the strings is because I killed the magic." Reaper explained in the most simplistic way he could.

One person still didn't get it, it seemed. "What do you mean by 'kill the magic'" Cross asked in obvious confusion.

  
  


"When I say 'death', what do you think of? You probably think of souls shattering, ending that person's life, right? That does tend to be the most common form of death, but that isn't the  _ only  _ form of death.

One of the types of 'death' is when magic dies, leaving the item embedded with magic practically useless in that regard. Those strings wrapped around Errors soul were heavily embedded with the original users magic, by cutting the strings I killed the magic-making them normal strings- and severing all ties to the original user." Reaper explained as Cross nodded to his words.

"Oh...I think I get it now." Cross looked at his feet awkwardly.

"How does your magic work in relation to the state of a persons soul?" Blue asked him, causing Reaper to be a tiny bit confused now.

"What do you mean by that? Could you specify a bit please?" Reaper prompted more out of Blue.

"Like, can you tell how a persons soul is doing? If they're close to death or not? And can you focus on how a specific persons soul is doing?" Blue asked, causing Reaper to hum. He was asking some really good questions.

"Well, I can vaguely tell the condition of someones soul, but not that well. And it can be quite hard sometimes to focus on a specific person, the distance between the person I'm trying to focus on and where I am can affect this. All I can really tell is how close a persons soul is to dying, and how their choices, long with the choices of people close to them affect how close they are to dying." Reaper explained.

  
  


"Oh, I see… then why did you lie?"

"What?"

"Why did you lie to Ink about Fresh and Error? You told him they were dead, but they clearly aren't." Blue frowned at Reaper.

Reaper had to take a second to pinder Blues question and remember  _ why  _ **_did_ ** _ he do that? _

  
  


The answer to that question wasn't very pleasant.

"Well…" Reaper trailed off, wondering how to properly word his answer.

"When Ink asked me that question, I felt….off, like something was wrong. So I decided to check in on Freshs lifespan, I then made the choice to be honest to see how that would affect his lifespan.

  
  
  
  


If I decided to be honest that day, Fresh would already be dead by now." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this chapter is a bit of a letdown after my break.... whatever I guess, sorry?
> 
> I'm still not really in the proper place mentally, but I'm getting there! I'm also VERY excited for you guys to see some of my plans for this series~
> 
> Reminder that you can find me over on Tumblr at call-me-diva2.tumblr.com!


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue gets into trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNINGS THAT APPLY FOR THIS CHAPTER!!!
> 
> This chapter contains
> 
> -Choking  
> -Attempted murder  
> -Slight reference to suicidal ideation 
> 
> If any of these things trigger you I advise you not to read this chapter!

Blue was fidgeting in the plush leather seat. He couldn't help it as he played with the bandana around his neck. 

_He was in trouble._

_Why?_

_What did he do?_

  
  


Blue had no idea _why_ Nightmare called him in here, or where Nightmare was for that matter. He had only been in here one other time, the day after Reaper left and they went to check up on Error….

  
  


**_Only to find him_ ** **_dead._ **

  
  


Nightmare blamed it on him.

It _was_ his fault.

  
  


_He is the reason Error died._

_It's all Blue's fault!_

  
  


**"I can practically** **_hear_ ** **your self deprecating thoughts from here, cut that out."** Nightmares cold voice sliced the silence harshly from behind him, causing Blue to flinch as he trembled.

"S-sorry…" He stuttered out as he quickly turned around, trying to look at Nightmare.

The star could see the faint silhouette of Nightmare melt into the shadows. 

**_"Here."_** Blue whipped around to see Nightmare standing on the other side of the desk, where Nightmare normally sat.

  
  


His voice was emotionless and sent chills through Blues bones. Nightmare stood stiffly; his hands behind his back as his tentacles slowly waved around, sharper than Blue had ever seen them. His eye socket was tightened in a glare that nearly tipped Blue over the edge directly into an anxiety attack. As Blue became more and more scared he noticed the sudden stench of dust and marrow in the air, making Blue nauseous. That wasn't what worried Blue the most. 

The object sticking out of Nightmares chest had to be the worrying thing that took the cake.

  
  


Nightmares face became oddly emotionless as a tentacle wrapped around it, quickly pulling it out and crumbling it in front of his eyes.

**"What was that?"** Nightmare asked Blue, who couldn't talk out of pure fear.

The deafening silence dragged as the air turned colder. Blue couldn't stop himself from shivering as he curled up into a tight ball. What has previously been anxious trembling turned into full-on shivering as his teeth clattered. It was absolutely _freezing._ The only other time he had felt like this was back in the anti-

  
  


**"You can't even respond? Quite pathetic, considering it was your fault. I knew I should have never taken you in,** **_traitor._ ** **"** The voice dripped with malice as Blue stared in shock.

"W-what? H-how i-is i-i-it m-my f-faul-t?" Blue stuttered out through clenched teeth.

**"You know what you did. I'm no fool."** Nightmares emotionless look started slowly fading into...something.

_How is it his fault that one of_ _Dreams_ _arrows was stuck in Nightmares chest? Did Dream attack him? What's going on here!?_

"I r-really don't kno-"

  
  


**_"Liar"_ ** The word taunted him as he gasped, his hands going to his neck as he tried to pry the tentacle off of him. **"You knew this would happen the second you told Ink the location of the hideout. I thought he treated you terribly? Why would you do this? Did you enjoy the abuse that much, you little masochist?"** Blue choked, trying to shake his head as he desperately attempted to pry off the tentacle. The tentacle loosened a little, allowing Blue to breathe a tiny bit. 

**"Now look at what happened because of you."** Nightmare spat out, fury evident in his voice. 

Tentacles forcefully tilted his head down to look at the desk. 

_There were 4 sets of dusty clothing._

**"Because you betrayed us, they died. And why? Just so you could suck up to some people who never loved you, and who never will?** **_Disgusting._ ** **"** Blue could feel a headache slowly forming and it worsened with each word spat at him.

"I...didn't…" Blue managed to gasp those words out before the tentacle tightened again.

  
  


**"You didn't what? This is all your fault."** It was then that Blue noticed the state of Nightmares tentacle wrapped around his neck. The goop was melting, slowly uncovering something red underneath it… strings? **"I warned you already, didn't I? Not to mess with my plans; now you have to pay the price for that.**

  
  
  
  
  


**Don't think you're coming out of this alive."**

  
  


Blue could barely see anymore as he uselessly tried to pry the strings off of his neck. More strings wrapped around his hands and pinned them to his sides.

Blue couldn't do anything as he was being choked. He couldn't do anything to protect himself from dying. Ha...ha… how pathetic of him.

  
  


**"That's right. You** **_are pathetic._ ** **It's almost satisfying seeing you dying slowly in front of me."** _He's not breathing!_ **"It's almost sad, seeing what you thought of everyone else."** _His… soul… w...hy-_ **"You really thought that they cared about you? Ink?"** _...d…..o s….om...et…..h…...i…...n….g!_ **"Dream?"** _…...I'.........t………..r…..y…..ng_ **"Error?"** _……..h…….e………..w……..n…….t…… …….w……..h………?_ **"Fresh?"** _……..t…….r…. i…...t!_ **"Nightmare?"** _………...c………. . . .. . ….ou … . .. . . .. ld. . . . . . . . .hm_ **"Cross? Maybe even Dust?** **_They never cared about you…_ **

**_But that's to be expected. Who could ever care about someone like you? Nobody, that's who. Honestly, I'm doing the multiverse a favor by killing you. I'm sure nobody will miss you._ **

  
  


**_This is the end, Blue. No more resets for you; aren't you happy about it? You'll get to see everyone again._ **

**_Alphys._ **

  
  


**_Undyne._ **

  
  


**_Queen Toriel._ **

  
  


**_Asgore._ **

  
  


**_Asriel._ **

  
  


**_Chara._ **

  
  


**_Papyrus._ **

  
  
  


**_It's finally coming to an end._ **

  
  
  
  


**_Isn't this what you wanted?_ **

  
  
  
  


**_A way to end all your suffering?_ **

  
  
  
  


**_You should be smiling._ **

  
  
  


**_Aren't you excited?_ **

  
  
  
  


**_Aren't you happy?_ **

  
  
  
  


**_You're going to be free._ **

  
  
  


**_Just like you wanted._ **

  
  
  


**…**

  
  
  


**…**

  
  
  


**…**

  
  
  


**…**

  
  
  


**…**

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


...And then, everything abruptly ended.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


~~~~

  
  


Nightmare had never felt _this_ amount of terror from Fresh _or_ Blue as he had felt when trying to wake Blue up.

  
  


It had been two days since Reaper had left, and things were looking up. They had spent those two days by Errors side in worry. But once they all started seeing the signs of Error being okay, everyone dispersed to take a break for a bit.

When Nightmare walked into the living room and found Blue asleep on the couch, he thought nothing of it. He just covered Blue with the blanket hanging off of his armchair and sat down to read. He thought nothing else of the situation when Fresh walked into the room.

It was only when Blue started gasping and Nightmare could feel sheer _terror_ did he know something was amiss. Fresh ran to Blues side along with Nightmare, concerned about the issue. When Blue had started clawing hard enough at his throat to draw marrow Fresh quickly pinned his arms down to the couch.

  
  


The faint gasps along with the wheezing was concerning enough on his own, but the _real_ problems had just begun.

  
  


_"He's not breathing!"_ Fresh cried out, and Nightmare could feel his level of concern spiking. "What do we do? 

  
  


"He seems to be experiencing a bad dream, I'll wake him up." Nightmare quickly barked out, trying to get as close as possible to Blue. 

  
  


He gently placed a hand on Blues skull and focused on pulling, trying to safely extract the Nightmare. 

  
  


He got….blocked?

  
  


"Damn it! I can't safely do it!" Nightmare hissed, and Fresh frowned.

"What!? Why not!?" 

"Doesn't matter right now. I'm checking on his soul." Nightmare quickly moved his right hand off of Blue's skull and hovered it over his chest, ready to summon his soul.

When Blues soul became visible to them, they were both in for a surprise.

_"His soul isn't beating! Why!?"_ Fresh looked stunned and Nightmare couldn't help but freeze.

But looking closer at the soul, Nightmare noticed that it was still beating faintly. One thing was for sure, it was definitely close to stopping.

  
  


"It's still beating, but it's extremely close to stopping. This has to be related to the dream he's experiencing." Nightmare said as he scanned Blue over for any indicators of what was going on.

_"Do something!"_ Fresh demanded loudly, his worry increasing tenfold. If Nightmare couldn't find a solution fast, they might just lose Blue.

_"I'm trying to think of something!"_ Nightmare snapped back in stress. He quickly pinched Blue as hard as he could. Using his tentacles as well, Nightmare inflicted as much pain as he possibly could on Blue. _No reaction._

_"He won't wake up! Why, god damn it!"_ Nightmare cursed and tried desperately to wake Blue up. 

Whatever was going on was _obviously_ connected to Blues dream, and Nightmare needed to wake up Blue to stop it. Blue should have woken up due to the pain of the tentacles pinching and prodding him, but he didn't.

"What do we do?" Fresh was much quieter now, but still panicked. 

There was one way Nightmare could think of, but it was quite dangerous. But seeing how close Blues soul was to stopping, it probably wasn't the most dangerous option here.

"I think I know a way to wake him up, but it's quite danger-"

  
  


_"Just try it!"_ Fresh pleaded as he cut Nightmare off.

  
  


Nightmare nodded and returned his hand back to Blues skull. Normally, he wouldn't try this method and would look for another option; but with Blues soul on the brink of shutting down along with the fact that he isn't breathing? 

They don't have time to look for another option.

"It could hurt him." Nightmare warned Fresh. "So get ready to deal with the aftermath if it does." Fresh just nodded.

  
  


"If it saves him, do it."

Nightmare nodded and quickly prepared the magic needed to perform the shutdown.

  
  


Shutting down a dream was almost like shutting down an electronic. It would stop the dream and make Blue unable to have dreams for a while. But with how sudden it is, many people in the past have compared the feeling to dying. Especially if they are unaware that they are in a dream. 

Most monsters.come out of this problem with one or two mental scars. But at this point Nightmare can't think of anything else he can do.

  
  


He felt around for a few seconds, finally finding what he was looking for.

  
  


And with that, he shut the dream down.

  
  
  


"I did it." He quickly announced, going back to studying Blues soul.

  
  


Blue relaxed against the couch and took a huge breath of air. _It felt so relieving._

His soul slowly started to beat normally, and Nightmare let go of the tension in his own body.

"You did it." Fresh sighed, leaning against Nightmare for support.

  
  


Fresh was extremely panicked by what was going on and completely lost his composure. To be fair Nightmare _was_ panicking too.

The guardian gently covered Blue with a blanket, using a tentacle to soothingly run his skull. With the craziness of Errors situation finally coming to an end, Nightmare thought he could take a break. Apparently not.

  
  


"He should be ok now." Nightmare assured Fresh. He nodded and quickly buried his face in Nightmares shoulder.

They stood like this for a while, trying to completely regain their composure.

  
  


"Hey you two, Error is awa- ….Did something happen?" Horrors' voice broke the silence and Fresh startled. They both looked to the doorway where Horror was standing.

"Blue was experiencing some issues with his soul due to a dream, but he's fine now." Nightmare quickly explained.

Horrors eye sockets widened the slightest bit. "He was having problems with his soul, _because of a dream?_ " Horror asked in disbelief. Nightmare nodded his head in an affirmative. 

Horror looked slightly stunned before he spoke up. "I still have some of that food we gave to Error for his soul, maybe that could help him?" Horror hesitantly offered. Nightmare shook his head.

"His soul is fine now, the food would do nothing." He explained to Horror.

"Oh… then I'll just make him something to eat when he wakes up. I need to make something for Error too, anyway." Horror started heading to the kitchen, leaving Nightmare and Fresh alone with Blue again.

"What….what do we do?" Fresh asked him.

"Go visit Error, I'll stay here to make sure Blue's ok." Nightmare instructed. Fresh looked at Nightmare in concern for a second, but quickly nodded and started making his way towards the door.

"Are you sure you'll be ok watching him on your ow-"

"It'll be fine, Fresh. Go see Error, I know he'll be happy to see you." And with that, Fresh left.

  
  


Nightmare sat down by Blue's feet at the end of the couch. He gently replaced the tentacle with his hand in caressing Blues skull. Blue didn't have any reaction.

  
  


What just happened was...concerning. 

He has a feeling that he knows what happened here, but he can't tell his boys just yet until he can confirm that it's right. He doesn't want to pointlessly scare them.

  
  


But if he's right… they have a much bigger problem here. 

The dream that Blue had obviously wasn't natural, if it was he would've been able to safely extract it or wake him up. And none of the other issues would have occurred.

It was quite obvious that _someone_ else gave him this dream. And there's only one other person who can do that…

That wasn't the most concerning part of this whole ordeal, however.

  
  


It wasn't a very well known fact that you could murder someone through a dream. Dreams tend to be reflections of a soul, so if you're experienced and powerful enough, you can hurt someone's soul through a dream and kill them. _But,_ most monsters are not capable of this level of magic. Actually, in the entire multiverse, there are only 2 exceptions to this rule. Nightmare didn't doubt it at this point

  
  
  
  


_Someone tried to kill Blue, and that someone is his_ **_brother._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, you thought things were going to calm down once Error gets the strings off? Nope.
> 
> If you want to scream at me for whatever reason you can find me on Tumblr at call-me-diva2.tumblr.com


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Horror has a breakdown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gOD I FINALLY UPDATED THIS STUPID FIC!!!!
> 
> Wow, so it's been quite a while, hasn't it? I'm really sorry about that. I haven't been doing well recently mentally OR physically, and it's a miracle that I even managed to write what I did write. And I've also been working on starting an Among Us fic so that's been what I've mainly been focusing on. I've just been a mess recently and it shows.
> 
> This chapter sucks but take it.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS
> 
> -Mentions of death

When Blue woke up with a start, Horror was still in the kitchen.

When everyone clobbered around him in concern, Horror was still making the food.

When the interrogation finished, Horror was giving Nightmare the food to help Blue.

But the second things cooled down? Horror was out of there.

He couldn't stand being in the same room as that  _ imposter  _ a second longer.

Everyone was concerned about him after that little scare, everyone  _ including Error, who just woke up and should be in bed.  _

And sure, Horror might have gotten a  _ little  _ concerned, but Error just woke up from a coma,  _ shouldn't they be focusing on him?  _ Stupid Star Sans, stealing the spotlight again.

Horror collapsed on his bed.

In situations like this, he'd normally be stress cooking, but that would include entering the living room where  _ he  _ is. 

No thanks.

It was funny, Blue had only been in the gang for about six months but the others were treating him like it's been longer.

~~ Almost like they're trying to replace Killer. ~~

  
  


It was  _ infuriating. _

Blue was a former Star Sans! Despite this he was accepted into the gang and given full trust nearly instantly, trust that the rest of them spent  _ months  _ earning.

It's not fair.

Horror glared at one of the pristine white pillows, suddenly overcome with the urge to rip it to shreds.

Blue was always the centre of attention, always taking the spotlight from things that  _ actually  _ matter.

They barely talked about Killer, which wasn't fair to him. It was almost as if Blue was replacing him and Horror hated it.

Killer was his best friend and one of the most important people in his life, it's not fair that they forgot about him only 14 months after his death.

A lot of people comfort those who are grieving with statements like, 'they'd want you to be happy', and Horror doesn't doubt that Killer would want him to be happy, but there's no way he'd want this.

Killer would probably sneer at him before making dome sarcastic comment about how he 'deserves to have an AU named after him' (this was a remark Horror had heard when he was alive). He'd then clarify that he doesn't actually expect that, but they should take care of his knife collection for him at the very least.

Horror could do that… 

  
  


He got up and trudged over to the door, slamming it shut behind him the second he got out of the room.

When he entered Killers room a whole storm of emotions filled him, bringing tears to his eye sockets.

Horror immediately leaned against the door, trying to choke back his sobs.

  
  


It was obvious that nobody else dared to enter this room by the sheer amount of dust covering everything.

The bedsheets were still crumpled up as if someone just slept in them- Horrors soul clenched painfully in his chest.

The black duvet was still messed up, Horror could see exactly how Killer had kicked them off of himself when he was woken up.

The large wooden desk pressed against the left wall still had woodchips littering its surface. Killers last carving still sat on the desk, incomplete and cut short. Just like his life.

Killers huge knife collection was still hung up to the navy blue wall, a select few missing. 

It hurt. Looking at this room hurt. Horror should just leave.

But… he can't. It would be rude to Killer's memory… wouldn't it? Horror should keep the room clean since Killer himself couldn't do it, or would that be ruder? Should he just leave the room as he left it?

The tears Horror had been fighting back flowed out against his will, causing him to gasp harshly.

And before he knew it he was on his knees sobbing into his hands.

It hurt. Everything hurt. 

Horror just let it happen. He was too weak to stop it anyway.

Just like how he was too weak to stop Killers death.

Horror couldn't perceive anything other than his sobs until something suddenly touched his shoulder.

"Horror. Horror, can you look at me?" A familiar and soothing voice called put to him.

"D-dad?" Horror stuttered out, looking up to see Nightmare crouching in front of him.

"Yes, Horror?" Nightmare frowned in concern as Horror instantly flung himself into the guardians chest, continuing his breakdown.

"We  _ forgot him, we actually forgot him!"  _ Horror gasped out, grabbing a fistful of Nightmares jacket and twisting it. "W-we've already f-forgotten about K-Killer." He stuttered out, feeling a tentacle soothingly rub his back.

"What makes you say that, Horror?" Nightmare asked as gently as possible.

It was almost as if a dam had suddenly been opened, causing everything to spill out of him.

" _ Everything!  _ We haven't been talking about him, we've been ignoring the subject completely even though it's his favourite month! We haven't been doing  _ anything  _ to honour his memory, a-and we even got a goddamn  _ replacement  _ in the form of a  _ Star Sans!"  _ Horror yelled as he buried his face even further in Nightmares chest.

"Horror, Blue isn't a repla-"

"IN WHAT WAY  _ ISN'T  _ HE A REPLACEMENT, DAD?" Horror cried out, pushing himself away from Nightmares chest and falling back, looking at his face. "KILLER DIES AND ALL OF A SUDDEN 8 MONTHS LATER WE TAKE IN A FORMER STAR SANS?? AND WE'RE IMMEDIATELY EXPECTED TO TREAT HIM LIKE FAMILY?? AND AFTER HE COMES WE JUST STOP TALKING ABOUT HIM??"

  
  


Nightmare didn't say anything, he only pulled Horror closer and rubbed his back soothingly, letting him shed all the tears that he needs to.

Once Horror calmed down, Nightmare answered his question.

"Blue isn't a replacement because he  _ can't be  _ a replacement. Blue and Killer, they're not even remotely the same, so trying to replace one with the other would never work. 

And just because we don't talk about Killer as often doesn't mean we've forgotten about him. 

We've just had a busy few months where we've spent the majority of our time worrying over Error. As long as we carry his memory with us, we won't truly forget about him.

We're all still grieving over him, and if you need to talk about him more to cope, that's ok. But don't take it out on Blue, I think he's been through enough."

  
  


Horror didn't say anything as Nightmare continued trying to soothe him.

  
  


It seems like things will be different now. If it's a good difference is yet to be seen, but Horror can only hope it will be. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Literally this was the fifth rendition of this chapter that I went through.
> 
> Originally, this chapter was going to be from Cross' view. THEN it was going to be from Fresh's view, then I changed it AGAIN so it would be from Blues view, ANOTHER time so that it would be from Dreams view, and then FINALLY I decided to go with Horrors view.
> 
> I sincerely hope that I will be able to get the next chapter out faster.


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare proposes an idea on how to stay safe after Blues... incident.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! Even though I didn't post last week, at least I managed to get this out this week, yay!
> 
> I honestly miss when I was able to post daily/ weekly, but recently I've been feeling a little disconnected from writing in general. I don't know, things recently have just been hectic so I don't think it would be possible for me to do that anymore.

Blue sat on the couch surrounded by most of the gang.

Cross and Fresh were sitting beside him, and they seemed to be the most worried about how he was doing. Dust sat on the ground in front of Blue, constantly teasing him and being his usual playful self. Error sat on the nearby armchair holding two knitting needles in his hand, and a ball of yarn on his lap; Nightmare standing beside him.

When Blue had woken up and saw that Error was there he immediately jumped up in an attempt to see him; but Cross had stopped him and forced him to sit down.

Apparently when Error had woken up he claimed to be fine, demanded to be let out of bed, and asked for chocolate. It seems as if he didn't get the chocolate.

When Blue had asked why everyone seemed concerned about him, Fresh explained that he had had problems when he was asleep. 

After a bit Horror brought him some food and proceeded to stomp out of the living room, Nightmare following not long after. It seemed at first as if Horror still had a problem with Blue; but that suspicion seemed to be proven wrong after Horror got back.

He sat down on the couch next to Cross, looked at Blue, and hesitantly asked him how he was feeling.

It was probably the nicest Horror had _ever_ been to him.

Nightmare came a few minutes after everyone in the living room had started a conversation: and his appearance was enough to stop everyone in their tracks.

"Um… dad?"

"Why do you have all of our blankets?" Dust asked, his brow bone furrowing into a frown.

"Due to the… situation with Blue, I think we should take some extra safety measures for a while, just to be on the safe side." Nightmare cooly explained, bustling over and placing the supplies down on the empty seat of the couch. "Now, excuse me for a moment while I go collect the mattresses from the spare rooms," Nightmare straightened his back and made a beeline for the exit before anyone could comment.

"How bad of a state was I in to make him react like _this?"_ Blue asked, frown prominent on his face.

"Pretty f(unk)ing bad, let me tell you that," Error chuckled darkly as he started to knit… something.

"Watch your language," Fresh quickly chided.

"Yeah, you're one to talk, you were stuck in a coma for like, fourteen f(udge)ing months."

_"Language!"_

"I'm immortal, unlike the starry idiot," Error cocked his head in Blues direction. 

"Hey! Don't call me that! I'm not even a star sans anymore…" 

"Yeah, don't call him that!" Cross was quick to jump to Blues defense.

Dust, Error, and Cross spent the next few minutes bickering with an exasperated Fresh Blue and Horror onlooking.

Nightmare returned quickly, dragging three mattresses into the room using his tentacles. Fresh quickly jumped up to help Nightmare while everyone else stared in curiosity.

"Um, care to explain what's going on?" Dust quirked up an eyebrow.

"Sleepover?" Cross suggested. 

Well, it certainly looked that way. But seriously, what happened to him? The others were being kind of vague about this… which was annoying. Why couldn't anyone in this house just straight up say something without dramatically dragging it on? Especially if it's important information! 

(Granted, he _was_ being a hypocrite, since he refused to tell them anything that happened with the Star Sans that _could_ be useful to them, like Inks sudden behavior change. But in his defense that was personal information!)

"Kind of," Nightmare said in response to Cross' suggestion. 

Blue swore he could see stars in Cross' eye lights at the response Nightmare gave.

"...Is this because of what happened with Blue?" Fresh asked Nightmare as he placed all of the mattresses on the ground beside each other in front of the couch.

Nightmare nodded and quickly picked Dust off of the ground- causing him to yelp loudly. 

The pouting Dust was placed beside Blue in Fresh's old spot.

Fresh looked over at Blue and fidgeted a bit as Nightmare grabbed the pillows and blankets.

"Seriously, what happened to me?" Blue was getting _extremely_ fed up by this point and just wanted answers.

"I'll explain that in a moment, just let me finish setting the beds up." Nightmare demanded as he started organizing the pillows and blankets on the three mattresses.

They all stayed in slightly uncomfortable silence as Nightmare finished making what appeared to be a large bed. 

Nightmare cleared his throat and straightened up a little, looking at Blue.

"Blue, while you were taking a nap there were some complications. You had started gasping for breath and clawing your throat, we tried to wake you up because it seemed as if you were having a bad dream, that was when we noticed that your soul was on the verge of stopping. We're not entirely sure what happened; but we assume that you had a really traumatic dream that nearly caused your soul to stop due to potential fear? It's also possible that you were suffocating in the dream and it was so realistic that your magic assumed it was real and acted as such? That doesn't really matter, what does matter is the preventative measures we will be taking to assure this doesn't happen again.

Since this occurred so soon after Error's soul problems had been resolved, there is a possibility that someone else will have a similar problem. This is just too much of a 'coincidence' to be considered a mere coincidence.

So, for the time being we will all be sleeping in the living room so I can keep an eye on you all. Unfortunately none of you will be allowed to dream for a while as I will be preventing you from dreaming. This won't be for forever, it's just a temporary solution."

  
  


Blues jaw was a little slack by the time Nightmare was done speaking, and he was sure that his eye sockets had widened considerably during the speech.

His soul nearly _stopped?_ H-he really was on the verge of _death_ while he was sleeping? And Nightmare said it was due to a dream, but Blue didn't even know that he _had_ dreamt during that nap!

Cross had scooted slightly closer to Blue with a frown prominent on his face and slightly shrunken eye lights, Error was watching him with a quirked brow bone, Dust was looking at Blue with what appeared to be concern, Horror was staring at the ground, and Fresh was staring at Nightmare with a thoughtful look on his face.

Nightmare was looking at them all cooly, his face not portraying a single emotion.

"Um… I guess we can go along with it? I mean, it's for our safety and it's not that big of a deal?" Blue responded, causing the others to nod along.

"Good, because you didn't really have a choice in this matter. Now, we should discuss sleeping arrangements." 

"I'm taking the armchair." Error immediately cried out as he continued knitting. 

"Of course Error would take the comfiest spot," Dust pouted, causing Error to snort.

"He has mild haphephobia, Dust, giving him the most isolated sleeping place is the best choice," Fresh sighed, finally looking away from Nightmare.

Nightmare nodded at Fresh's explanation as Dust pouted slightly, but agreed anyway.

"Two people can take the couch, and the other three can take the beds." Nightmare barely got to finish the sentence before Fresh piped up.

"Blue and I can take the couch!" 

"Oh, um, sure?" Blue was inwardly relieved that Fresh got them both the couch, sleeping next to three people sounded overwhelming.

Nightmare nodded again. "Alright then. Horror, Dust, and Cross, you three can sleep on the mattresses."

"Cuddle pile?" Cross offered, the other two immediately agreed. Dust seemed much more excited about it than Horror.

"But what about you? Where will you sleep?" Blue asked Nightmare while frowning.

"For this process I can't sleep, I need to stay awake to make sure none of you get any dreams. But I will be ok, unlike you I don't require sleep." Nightmare assured Blue, who felt a little relieved.

Blue could still feel most of the gangs stares on him, causing him to shift uncomfortably. 

"Well, I wasn't aware that what happened was nearly that bad, honestly I don't even remember dreaming at all. But what matters is that I'm ok now, right? So you guys don't need to worry about me, all right?" He tried to awkwardly console some of the more concerned members.

"Blue is right, there is no reason to be overly concerned about him right this second as he seems to be doing ok. Don't treat this sleeping arrangement like a bad thing, try to see it as something like a sleepover. We're just trying to be safe here." Nightmare also joined in on trying to make sure everyone's calm.

After a few seconds of pondering, everyone seemed to be at least slightly calmer.

  
  


"Well, if we're going to be doing this, can we have a movie night?" Cross suggested, Dust immediately agreed with him.

Blue had to hold back a sigh of relief at that, it seemed as if those two were at least ok with everything going on.

"What movies did you have in mind?" Nightmare asked.

"Marvel? We have all of those movies and I heard they're really good? They've been on my watchlist for a while." 

Everyone agreed with Cross' suggestion, including Blue. He didn't like watching movies too much since his attention span is very limited, but if it makes everyone else happy why not?

As Blue watched everyone happily prepare for the movie marathon, he got reminded of how things were with Dream and Ink.

But… the gang weren't them. They were separate people with completely different personalities, and Blue found himself caring for them all the same.

Even if his last 8 months with the stars were terrible (even though he's probably being over dramatic and sensitive), he kind of owes them. If they hadn't treated them like that, Blue would have never found his new ~~family~~ friends.

  
  


Even though he's still justified in his hurt towards the stars.

~~What they did was abusive.~~

~~They were wrong.~~

~~He doesn't owe them any thanks.~~

~~They did something terrible.~~

~~He wasn't overreacting.~~

~~They owe him an apology.~~

  
  


Maybe Ink and Dream weren't so bad after all? Well, no reason for him to think about them now.

He has a movie marathon to enjoy.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully I won't take any more super long breaks and I can continue posting every week every other week? Hopefully? No promises there though.
> 
> If you want a warning next time I'm going to go on one of those long breaks, you can check me out at my tumblr since I tend to give a warning about that there! Or if you have any questions/theories or you just wanna harass me you can do it there!
> 
> call-me-diva2.tumblr.com


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why is he nothing? He's not supposed to be nothing, he's never supposed to be nothing. If he's nothing… what's the point of his existence? Why is he alive? He's supposed to be hot. Not nothing.
> 
> Why should he stay here? Why did he fail? Why can't he feel hot again?
> 
> ...Why can't )×€4- move?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... hi.
> 
> So, I had absolutely zero ideas on what to do with this chapter, but this idea suddenly hit me over the head and I decided to just roll with it. 
> 
> This chapter is actually pretty important because it actually gives off some clues as to what's going to happen in the future of TEPS..... but it's quite hard to read. You'll see what I mean.
> 
> I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of nervous about this chapter. I spent a LOT of time working on it, and it is easily the hardest chapter for me to write, so I'm nervous about it feeling out of place after all the work I put into it haha.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER
> 
> -Attempted Murder  
> -Strangulation  
> -Mentions of kidnapping

**_XXXX Years Ago_ **

  
  
  


_ Nothing. There was absolutely nothing left. He couldn't feel anything. It wasn't cold, wasn't hot. It was just nothing. _

_ He was alone. How did he become alone? Did he deserve to be alone? What did he do? Where did everyone go? Where did  _ he  _ go?  _

_ Why was he alone? Why is there blood? Why is it frigid, usually when it's frigid it's cold as well, but there's nothing. _

_ Who's nothing? Is he nothing? He was supposed to be hot at all times, but he can't feel it anymore.  _

_ Why is he nothing? He's not supposed to be nothing, he's  _ never  _ supposed to be nothing. If he's nothing… what's the point of his existence? Why is he alive? He's supposed to be hot. Not nothing. _

_ Why should he stay here? Why did he fail? Why can't he feel hot again? _

  
  
  


_...Why can't )×€4- move? _

  
  
  


**_XXXX Years Ago_ **

_ He can move, but he's still nothing. He can leave, and he's slightly warm. _

_ Good. That's good.  _

_ He's left, and it's not nothing anymore. _

_ He can feel hot, and warm, and cold, and everything except for nothing. That's good, nothing is good. _

_ He tries his best to be hot instead of being cold. Being cold isn't good. _

  
  


**_XXXX Years Ago_ **

  
  


_ It was weird, seeing \078&-4×€ again. They never were the most warm, they were cold most of the time, but with the occasional bursts of heat. They would always feel the most hot around him. _

_ So seeing them there, with someone else, it was weird. Feeling how cold they were was weird. When they saw him they became even more cold, which was a completely new thing.  _

  
  


_ And once again…. there was nothing. _

  
  


**_XXXX Years Ago_ **

_ He met someone new today. They were weird, he had no clue what to think of them. _

_ They were warm, but a weird kind of warm, a fake warm? _

_ They should probably be hot, it feels like they SHOULD be hot, but something was holding them back. _

_ Their name is 0\¿, and they're the 7$4×)04\ !* &8€ -$|&0^€×%€. _

_ He asked them about it, and they seem to be hot in their own way. To them, being warm was being hot. He's never met someone like them before. It was interesting, very interesting.  _

_ It's chaotic being around them. They're almost like a tornado, destroying everything in their path. But at the same time, they build it up again, make it new. _

_...He doesn't know what to think of them, he really doesn't. For now he probably shouldn't think of them, maybe stay away. _

**_XXXX Years Ago_ **

_ Someone new came into the picture. _

_ They were weird, and glitchy, and violent, and they felt like nothing. _

_ The nothing part was the most concerning. _

_ He could tell that they were hot, and cold underneath the nothing, it almost felt as if the nothing was coming from someone else. _

_ But they spread a whole lot of nothing. Probably because they are nothing? _

_ They seem to get into altercations with 0\¿ a lot, the warm one, the weird out of place warmth. It seems as if they have opposing goals in a way, huh. _

_ He's not the only one who's expressed interest in them, \078&-4×€ has too. But they seem more interested in the one that's nothing. Of course, they're cold, of course someone who's cold would be interested in someone who's nothing. _

_ Even though the warm one is much more interesting to him, especially since they spread so much heat. _

_ They spread warmth as well, and cold, a LOT of cold actually, but they were still warm. They were still an enigma, and it interested him. _

_ They never spread this much hot or cold in the past, not really, they focused on the pre existing hot and cold. But since the other one had started spreading their nothing they had started spreading their everything. _

_ He has no idea where he fits into place in the picture. He must fit in somewhere, right? Just like the cold one would fit in together really well with the one who's nothing.  _

_ Huh, he really has no idea. _

  
  


**_XXX Years Ago_ **

_ 0\¿ has approached him.  _

_ They're asking him for help against €××!× and now \078&-4×€ as well. _

_ He asks them how, they show him, he isn't sure. He says no. _

_ They pout, and grumble, but reluctantly leave him alone… _

  
  


_...for the span of a week. _

_ They're very insistent, and after a while he says yes. _

_ This is the closest he's ever felt them to being hot. He's hot at their warmth, they smile, and he could see a tint of yellow in those plain white eyelights of theirs. _

  
  
  


_ After a while they get to know each other. The odd warmth is still odd, but familiar. It's comforting, and they're comforting in general. _

_ He tries to help out as much as he possibly can in their building, '&8€ %&4×% 6€\&×4|'. They built it a long time before they asked him to join them, and with it they'll protect the heat of the -$|&0^€×%€ from the cold and nothing ones. _

_ '&8€ 54) %4\%€%' is what they're dubbed. _

_ And the two of them get named the '%&4× %4\%€%'.  _

_ They are renowned as heros once they fight back against &8€ 54) %4\%€%. _

_...And it's nice, in a way.  _

_ He just tries his best, doing whatever he can to spread heat with his warm friend? Comrade?  _

_...He'll just go with comrade for now. _

  
  


_ His comrade is energetic, and destructive, and noisy, and definitely annoying at times, but he's not alone anymore ever since they came into the picture, so he can't complain. _

  
  


**_XXX Years Ago_ **

  
  


_ 0\¿ is an 4×&0%&, that much is obvious. Looking at their outfits tells you that immediately, considering that they have multiple vials of paint and a paint brush on them at all times. _

_ He's been in their room a few times, and it's covered in paintings that they've created. Their art is important to them, after  _ **_X_ ** _ years of being with them that much is obvious. _

_ So he was admittedly curious about how they made their artwork. _

_ He watched them curiously as they hummed, dipping their paintbrush into a random colour and stroking it over the canvas. They giggled and made another random line of the canvas.  _

_ They were having a lot of fun, and )×€4-wanted to watch them paint up close, but he wasn't sure what they'd think of that. _

_ He shuffled awkwardly from the other side of the room, loving the warmth they emitted from it. _

_ "Hey, )×€4-2, you need something?" 0\¿ called out, startling )×€4-. _

_ "I- what? I, um, don't need anything," )×€4- awkwardly excused himself, face flushing from 0\¿% sudden call out. _

_ "Oh, ok then." 0\¿ shrugged, looking back at their art. _

_ "U-um, actually." 0\¿ whipped their head up to watch )×€4- again, narrowing their eye sockets in curiosity. "Do you mind if I sit beside you and watch you paint? You can even explain what you're doing if you want I guess?"  _

_ 0\¿% eyelights lit up and they nodded vigorously, shuffling aside so )×€4- could sit beside them.  _

_ )×€4- watched as 0\¿% paintings came to life in awe, they truly are an 4×&0%&.  _

_ When 0\¿ finally put down their paintbrush )×€4- stared at the finished artwork, his eyelights were wide open in wonder. _

_ 0\¿ giggled and quickly dipped their brush into the yellow paint, moving over and painting a streak on )×€4-% face. _

_ "Wha- HEY!" )×€4- cried out, causing 0\¿ to giggle as they quickly lept up off the floor. "HEY, 0\¿, GET BACK HERE!" _

_ "Not unless you catch me~" 0\¿ lept up to the door, opening it and holding up one hand in a mock wave, exiting the room right after. _

_ )×€4- laughed and got up to chase the 4×&0%&. _

  
  


**_XXX Years Ago_ **

  
  


_ €××!× had gone much too far this time. _

_ While attacking an $\\)€×%₩4# 6!#2, &8€ )€%&×!2€× had decided to ¿0)\4# an $\\)€×%₩4# %4\%, one nicknamed 5|$€5€××2. _

_ The #4#2×$% was the only person left alive, and the one who witnessed the ¿0)\4##0\7.  _

_ 0\¿ had called 6!×€ *×0%¿ to take him to the !-€74 &0-€|0\€, and they agreed. But nobody could hide their worry over poor 5|$€5€××2. _

_ Since the 4\&0^!0) was only accessible to €××!×, none of them could get in there to save 5|$€5€××2. At this point they were as good as dead. _

_ )×€4- was cold for one of the first times in his life, and he didn't like it.  _

_ He took his anger out on the 54) %4\%€% going as hard as possible against them the next time they fought. _

_ €××!× wasn't there, and )×€4- wanted to scream. _

_ That- that  _ bastard  _ goes ahead and kidnaps a %4\% and doesn't even have the balls to show up and fight them!? Seriously!? _

  
  


_ … _

  
  
  


_ A few weeks later 5|$€5€××2 was found, and they managed to ×€%€& the 4$. _

_ #4#2×$% was extremely thankful, it was the first time )×€4- truly felt like a hero. _

_ 0\¿ was warm as they talked it over, and it was extremely comforting. He felt safe in his presence. _

  
  


**_XX Years Ago_ **

  
  


_ ")×€4-, look, it's been a week and it's still alive!" 0\¿ exclaimed, gesturing to the potted plant. _

_ "I see." _

_ "Isn't it great!? This is the longest I've been able to keep a plant alive!" _

_ )×€4- is  _ very  _ aware of the lifespans of 0\¿% previous plants, due to the fact that 0\¿ sobbed to him over all of their deaths. _

_ "Good job, 0\¿." )×€4- smiled at 0\¿, causing him to let out an excited whoop. _

  
  


_ "See, see, I told you I would get better at taking care of them!" _

_ "You most certainly did." _

_ "I have to tell the rest of the board about this!" 0\¿ grinned and quickly ran out of the room. _

_ )×€4- sighed fondly to himself, shaking his head as he inspected the plant. _

_ Yup, getting this fake plant was definitely a good choice. 0\¿ didn't even realize it's fake! And, sure, it's not good to lie to them, and this plant was  _ really  _ expensive; but at the end of the day seeing 0\¿ be so happy was definitely worth the hassle. _

  
  
  
  


**_XX Years Ago_ **

  
  


_ There was a knock at the door, 0\¿ and )×€4- both looking up in surprise. _

_ Nobody was supposed to have access to this floor except for them,  _

_ "...)×€4-, who is it?" 0\¿ asked, instinctively reaching back for 5×!!-2. _

_ "Wha- how am  _ I  _ supposed to know that!?" )×€4- frowned as he whisper shouted, flinging his hands out. _

_ "Can't you, I dunno, feel their emotions or something?" 0\¿ whisper shouted back, placing their hands on their hips. _

_ "Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean I immediately know who it is!" )×€4- was absolutely exasperated, rolling his eyes. _

_ He wouldn't have even imagined rolling his eyes at 0\¿ a few months ago. They've really gotten close, huh? _

_ "Do they have malicious intentions?" 0\¿ frowned at )×€4-, who shook his head. _

_ Another knock sounded throughout the room. _

_ 0\¿ sighed, and quickly walked over to the door. They quickly swung the door to open, checking who was on the other side. _

_ "5|$€5€××2?" 0\¿ sounded confused, tilting their head slightly. _

_ "Yeah, that's me," 5|$€5€××2 sounded slightly nervous, shuffling their weight from one foot to the other. Their hands were folded behind their back, and if they were in sight they would probably be playing with their fingers. But other than that their posture screamed confidence, with their head held high and their chest puffed out slightly.  _

_ "What are you doing here? Wait, no,  _ how  _ did you get here?" )×€4- asked, quickly walking over to 0\¿% side. _

_ "I bypassed the security system to get here, because the -47\0*06€\& 5|$€ can do whatever he wants!" 5|$€5€××2 quickly pointed a finger upwards in triumph, smiling warmly before quickly going back to their prior position. _

_ "Huh? You bypassed security? That's actually really cool! Say, how did you do it!?" _

_ "0\¿! Don't encourage this kind of behavior!" _

_ "Sorry," 0\¿ didn't sound sorry. _

_ "So, 5|$€5€××2, why are you here exactly?" )×€4- frowned as he looked back at 5|$€5€××2, who perked up slightly. _

_ "Well, after my… _ situation _ … with €××!×, I decided that I couldn't let crooks like that run around the  _ -$|&0^€×%€ _! And I heard that you two are the ones fighting against them, so I want to join you! I've been training to become a royal guard with 4|#82% for years, so I think I'd be good at fighting against them!" They leaned forward with stars in their eye sockets, grinning excitedly. _

_ "...You're from $\\)€×%₩4#, I doubt that you're that good." 0\¿ crossed their arms over their chest, tilting their head to the side yet again as they frowned. _

_ "0\¿! That's very rude!" )×€4- chastised him, quickly looking over to see 5|$€5€××2 slightly inflating. )×€4- could feel the sudden rush of cold coming from 5|$€5€××2 and quickly tried to remedy the situation. _

_ "Sorry, ignore him, he's just being rude. I'm sure you're great! But, I'm not sure it'd be safe for you to help us. And we're not really looking for any new members, sorry!"  _

_ "Are you sure? Please, just give me a chance!? I will do anything you want, absolutely anything, just as long as you give me a chance to prove myself!" 5|$€5€××2begged. _

_ )×€4- felt guilty  _ _ weird _ _. This kid wanted this badly… huh? _

_ "But the problem is that you might not remember-"  _

_ "Are you referring to the ×€%€&%? Don't worry, I remember them now. So I won't forget." 5|$€5€××2 became oddly serious, their smile vanishing for a moment. _

_ "You would do anything?" _

_ "Yes, anything, I swear!" _

_ "....go get me a cookie dough milkshake from the food court." _

_ "0\¿ no-" But it was too late, as 5|$€5€××2 had already nodded and ran off to get it. _

_ )×€4- watched 5|$€5€××2 run off with a sense of sadness, and fear. He could barely stop himself from doing… something. _

_ Huh? _

_ What? _

_ That's weird… _

_ Why? _

_ Why don't I want them to leave? _

  
  


_...5|$€, #|€4%€ 6!-€ 546¿. O'- %!××2. 0 -0%% 20$, 9$%& #|€4%€, 6!-€ 546¿. ₩8€×€ 4×€ 2!$? 4×€ 2!$ %4*€? ₩82? _

  
  


_ "Why…" )×€4- mumbled to himself. _

  
  


"W…….h…...y………..m...i..l..k...s…….a…..k…..e?............y…………...o……..u…..r………..f…...l…..a……….v……...o……...r!"

_ Why did that feel so wrong? Why did he want him to come back? _

_ Why? _

  
  


_ Why? _

  
  


_ Whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhy- _

  
  


_ Why did everything feel so wrong? _

  
  
  


_ ……….r……….e…...a…...m…? _

  
  


_ Was there actually something wrong? _

  
  
  
  


_ H……...e…………...n…….t……….s……..p…………...o……...n…….d……...n…….g..! _

  
  


_ What was wrong, if there even was anything wrong? _

  
  
  


_ ……….)……..×……...€….4……..-.? _

  
  


_ What….. _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_ ")×€4-!" )×€4- flinched violently as he suddenly felt cold water splash his face. _

_ "Wha-!?" _

_ "FINALLY, geez, took ya long enough to respond!" 0\¿ laughed, poking their tongue out. 5|$€5€×….5|$€ just frowned at him. _

_ "Hey...are you ok?" They asked, tentatively reaching out to )×€4-, who nodded. _

_ "Yeah….sorry, don't know what happened there." )×€4- shook his head, trying to shake off the sudden cold. _

_ Weird.  _

_ "You weren't watching, were you?" 5|$€ asked )×€4-, their previous heat becoming corroded by the terrible cold. _

_ "Aw man, we'll have to do that again, won't we? I mean, I personally think you should join. But you still need )×€4-% approval." 0\¿ shrugged, handing 5|$€ a water bottle to take a sip from after their fight? _

_ "No-! Actually, um, that won't be necessary." Both 5|$€ and 0\¿ jumped at )×€4-% sudden shout. _

  
  


_ )!\'& |€& 80- 7€& 4₩42. %&42 ₩0&8 5|$€. )!\'& |€& 8 _ 0- 7€& 4₩42.

_ "Really!?" 5|$€% eyelights turned into stars. _

_ "Yup, welcome to the team, 5|$€." _

_ "Thank you!" 5|$€ jumped at )×€4-, instantly enveloping him into a hug. _

  
  


_ #×!&€6&. \€€) &! #×!&€6& 80-. _

_ "Yay, 5|!!52'% a part of the team!" _

_ "...5|!!52?" _

_ "Well you don't want to be called 5|$€5€××2 anymore, so I need something new to call you! 5|$€ is just too boring.' _

_ "What…?" _

  
  


_ "Welcome to the team."  _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**_XX Years Ago_ **

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_ €××!× doesn't feel like nothing anymore. Now they feel hot, and cold. _

_ Why? _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**_XX Years Ago_ **

  
  


_ )×€4- quickly stretched his back from where he was sitting on the couch. _

_ After fighting &8€ 54) %4\%€% he felt exhausted.  _

_ Seeing \078&-4×€ always left )×€4- uncomfortably cold. It wasn't good for his image, so he needed to do something to make himself feel better. _

_ )×€4- got up from his bean bag and quickly went to the side table 0\¿ had brought for the tea machine. _

&84& -4680\€ ₩!$|)\'& %&42 *!× ^€×2 |!\7, 0\¿ 5×!¿€ 0& &8×€€ ₩€€¿% |4&€÷ 4\\) &8€2 4|| )€60)€) &! \€^€× 84^€ 4\2 %!×& !* )×0\¿ -4680\€ 0\ &8€0× #×0^4&€ -€€&0\7 ×!!- 4740\\.

_ Huh?  _

_ )×€4- quickly made himself a cup of tea, turning around to go back and sit on his beanbag, when he stopped in his tracks. _

_ There was 0\¿, sitting on  _ his  _ beanbag. _

_ "0\¿, what are you doing? Get off." )×€4- tried to shoo 0\¿ off his beanbag, but the other wouldn't budge. _

_ "Aww, but )×€4-2, your beanbag is so much comfier than mine!" _

_ "Too bad, it's mine, now get off!" )×€4- gently nudged 0\¿ with his foot, who pouted up at him from where they were drawing on  _ his. fucking. beanbag.

_ "But )×€444444444444" _

_ "Don't ')×€4-' me, now get off." _

_ "No." _

_ )×€4- frowned at 0\¿, who shrugged in faux innocence and looked back down at their drawing. _

_ Quickly grabbing 0\¿% notebook, )×€4- threw it across the room, causing 0\¿ to gape at him. _

_ "MY NOTEBOOK!" 0\¿ quickly got off of his beanbag and ran across the room. _

_ )×€4- smugly sat back down in his bean bag, taking a sip of his tea. 0\¿ glared at him from the other side the room, but there was no true coldness behind that glare, all )×€4- could feel was warmth. _

_ As 0\¿ stomped over to him in a supposedly 'menacing' way, )×€4- didn't feel scared. He never felt scared around 0\¿. He always felt safe in the others presence. The warmth in those slightly colored eyelights was more than enough to convince )×€4- that 0\¿ was a good person. _

_ Suddenly,)×€4- felt himself hitting the ground. _

_ 0\¿ smirked at him and plopped his beanbag down on the ground after pulling it out from under him. _

_ )×€4- scowled at his now wet shirt as 0\¿ sat down on his beanbag. _

_ He quickly grabbed the box of pencil crayons 0\¿ was using- ignoring the others protests- and took them all out of the box as he started throwing them across the room, one by one. _

_ "You BITCH THOSE ARE MY ART SUPPLIES!!!" 0\¿ yelped as they quickly scrambled off of the beanbag to go and collect them all, leaving )×€4- to sit on the beanbag yet again. _

_ After picking up all of the pencil crayons, 0\¿ rushed over and did the unthinkable. They grabbed the ceramic mug from )×€4- and threw it across the room at full force. It smashed against the opposite wall as tea went  _ everywhere _. _

_ "0\¿..." _

_ "Alright, someone want to explain to me what  _ on earth is going on!? _ " _

_ )×€4- felt a sudden heat as 5|$€ entered the room, and immediately scolded them. _

_ "He stole my beanbag and threw it!" _

_ "He threw my pencil crayons!" _

_ 0\¿ and )×€4- yelled out at the same time, both of them pointing an accusing finger at the other. _

_ "...Oh my god….you're literal children." _

  
  


_ "Well to be fair you have your childish moments too!" _

_ "At this point are you really shocked? You knew what you were getting into when you joined us." Yet again the two of them spoke over each other. _

_ "Imbeciles…" 5|$€ muttered fondly. _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**_X101019Mlq1z Days/Months/Years Ago?????_ ** _? _ ? **??** ?? **_?_ ** _? _ **_?_ ** **?** ? **?** **_?_ ** _? _ **_?_ ** **?** ?

  
  


_ "That stuff is seriously gross, I have no idea how you can drink it." )×€4- sighed, watching 5|$€ 2take another sip of his coffee. _

_ It was absolutely freezing in the AU, and the three of them were all bundled up in warm clothing. )×€4- could feel the heat emanating off of 5|$€, and the warmth that 0\¿ normally gave off. He himself felt very hot. It was a good  _ ~~_ date _ ~~ _ day.  _

_ )×€4- shivered as he clutched his jacket tighter around himself. _

_ 5|$€ shrugged as they took a sip of the nasty bean juice. "I dunno, I just, like it? It's fine if you don't like it."  _

_ )×€4- felt a flare of coldness heat up inside him at 5|$€% words, but he couldn't tell why. _

  
  


_ Huh, that's weird. _

_ "Yeah, )×€4-, don't be mean!" 0\¿ pouted at him, and )×€4- rolled his eyes.  _

_ "I'm not being mean, drama queen."  _

_ "Oh, he says he's not being mean, just as he's being mean!" 0\¿ placed a hand on their forehead and wails, causing 5|$€ to laugh as )×€4- rolled his eyes again. _

_ "Oh shut up you!" _

_ "Yeah, )×€4-, why are you being so mean?" 5|$€ mocked )×€4-, still giggling. _

_ )×€4- feels even more cold at this, and frowns in confusion. _

  
  


_...Why? Why was he feeling like this? 5|$€ did nothing wrong. _

_ "...)×€4-? Are you ok-" _

_ "Don't touch me." )×€4- snapped as 5|$€ put a hand on his shoulder. _

_ ")×€4-, what-" _

_ "I don't- I don't…. sorry, I don't know what's wrong, I think I need a little bit of space, I'm sorry." )×€4- instantly backed up from 5|$€, unsure of why he felt so cold. _

_ 5|$€ looked upset, and hurt, and confused- but he nodded anyway. _

_ )×€4- didn't know why that simple action causes him to be filled with white hot  _ **_rage_ ** _. _

  
  


_ 68!¿€ 80-. _

_ ….What!? Where did that come from. _

_ 2!$ %8!$|) 68!¿€ 80-. _

_ No, no, absolutely  _ not _. _

_ ₩!$|)\'& 0& *€€| %4&0%*20\7? &! 6×$%8 80% &8×!4& 0\ 2!$× 84\\)%? &! %€€ 80- %|!₩|2 )0€ 0\ 2!$× 7×4%#? _

_ No, no it wouldn't. That sounds terrible. _

_ ")×€4-, are you-" _

_ "NO, s-stay the fuck aw-way from me!"  _ __ _ )×€4- gasped as his hands twitched, quickly holding them behind his back. _

_ "Seriously, )×€4-, what's going on? Are you ok, do you need help?" 5|$€ stepped towards him, and he took a step back.  _

_ 68!¿€ 80-. _

_ They frowned, and took another step forward. )×€4- took another step back.  _

¿0|| 80-.

_ Soon )×€4- was nearly running backwards, trying to stay away from 5|$€. _

_ ¿0|| 80-, )! 0&, 8€'% ×078& &8€×€. _

_ -425€ 0* 8€ 84) 5€€\ #420\7 -!×€ 4&&€\&0!\ 8€ ₩!$|)'^€ \\!&06€) &8€ ₩42 €^€×2&80\7 #4$%€). 8!₩ €^€×2 s%0\|€ -!\%&€× !&8€× &84\ 80- 4\\) 5|$€ ₩€×€ 4% %&0|| 4% 4 %&4&$€. 8!₩ &8€ %\\!₩ *4||0\7 *×!- &8€ %¿2 #4$%€) -0) 40×, 8!₩ &8€ &0##€) !^€× )×0\¿ !\ &8€ \€4×52 &45|€ *×!1€ &!!. _

)! 0&, ¿0|| 80-, 68!¿€ 80-, 70^€ 80- ₩84& 8€ )€%€×^€%.

_ ")×€4-!" _

_ 68!¿€ 80-,  _ \\!₩.

_ And  _ that  _ was the last straw on the camels back. _

_ )×€4- snarled and lunged forward, wrapping his hands around 5|$€% neck and squeezing as hard as he possibly could.  _

_ 5|$€ dropped his coffee on the floor, and quickly tried to claw )×€4-% hands off his throat, but to no avail.)×€4- was stronger  _ and he knew it.

_ Fueled by pure fury )×€4- kept on squeezing. _

_ -425€ 8€ ₩!$|)'^€ %\4##€) !$& !* 0& 0* 8€ \\!&06€) &8€ ₩42 &8€ %6€\€×2 684\7€). &8€ ₩42 8€ %$))€\|2 84) &€\&46|€%, 4\\) &8€ *46& &84& 0\%&€4) !* 80% 84\\)% 4×!$\\) 5|$€% \€6¿, &8€×€ ₩€×€  _ ×€) %&×0\7%..

  
  
  
  
  


_ )×€4- kept on squeezing and squeezing and squeezing until, the next moment, all of a sudden, _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_ it _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_ all _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_ e n d e d. _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_ 2!$ *40|€). _

  
  


_ ₩€||, )!\'& ₩!××2, -2 #$##€&. _

  
  


_ 2!$ ₩0|| 7€& 4\\!&8€× 684\6€ |4&€×. _

  
  


_ 4\\) 0* 2!$ *40|, ₩€||, 0 84^€ #$##€&% -!×€ #!₩€×*$| &84\ 2!$ 4\2₩42. _

  
  


_ 5$& 0&'|| 5€ *0\€, 0'- %$×€ 2!$'|| %$66€€). _

  
  
  


_ %$68 0% 2!$× )...*4&€. _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Yesterday.**

  
  


"Dream. Wake up. Seriously, Dream, wake up." 

  
  


Dream felt tired, and heavy, and all he wanted at this moment was just to go back to sleep.

"Dream, we have a meeting today. Get. Up."

  
  


Dream could feel a pair of hands latch on to his shoulder, shaking him in an attempt to wake him up.

Blearily, Dream opened his eye sockets. 

He could barely see the form of Ink standing over him, glaring at him as he folded his arms over his chest.

He immediately closed his eye sockets again, unable to keep them open for so long.

"Dream, I know you're awake, now up!" Ink snarled, glaring at Dream.

Dream squinted slightly as he tried to get up, only to feel dizzy and fall back onto the couch.

  
  


"Can't……...get up……." Dream managed to groan, causing Ink to roll his eye sockets.

"Geez, what did you do in your sleep to be  _ this  _ exhausted ?" He scoffed, quickly walking away.

A few seconds later, Dream felt something hit his chest.

Struggling to open his eye sockets again, the guardian of positivity saw a granola bar laying on his chest.

"You appear to be drained of magic, eat it and get up. You can eat something else after the meeting." Ink quickly walked over to the door, and Dream quickly nodded as he started to open to granola bar.

  
  


Dream tried to remember what had him so drained as he slowly chewed on the bar, only to come up blank.

_ ….Huh…...Weird. _

_ Something here is more weird….. _

_ Ink…. _

_ Why don't I feel safe around him? What's different? _

  
  


~~~~

  
  


"So what you're telling me is that it will take us a whole damn year to finish the plan!? That too fucking long!" Red roared, slamming his hands on the table.

"Patience, Sans, these things take time."

"Who tha fuck are you calling Sans, you bastard son of a rainbow!?"

Dream could already feel the headache building up from the fight, the icy chill of Reds anger causing him to shiver.

  
  
  


He could vaguely tell that the rest of The Asterism Board jumped in to the argument, but the yellow clad guardian tuned them out.

  
  
  


_ Something is off….. but what. _

  
  
  


It took about ten minutes of watching the board fight to finally realize what was wrong.

  
  


In the board there was a cluster of emotions, cold negative feelings, and hot positive feelings. 

Normally, there would be Inks subdued warm positive (or, recently, negative) emotions…. but that wasn't the case.

  
  
  


Actually, if he's reading Ink right, _ the other guardian feels nothing. _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, wow, using a code to hide important information from the reader but not the character, nice. 
> 
> Now in all seriousness in regards to the code, it IS possible to translate it into something readable.
> 
> How? Well, I'm not going to answer that.
> 
> But if you want to try to guess what it means in the comments section go ahead and try, I'll tell you if you're right or wrong.
> 
> Also, you can scream at me over the code over on my tumblr!
> 
> call-me-diva2.tumblr.com


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fresh couldn't help but replay Nightmares words from earlier over and over again in his head. Something about what Nightmare said was very off.
> 
> There was something extremely fishy going on here, and Fresh was going to find out what it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahahahahaha it is 12:12 in the god damn morning on a school night and I posting this because I can't sleep hahaha.
> 
> Seriously, I thought I was done with the midnight posts months ago??? But NOPE apparently I'm not!
> 
> So, um, trigger warnings... yup... I should totally be doing this stuff so early in the morning.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER
> 
> -There is a panic attack  
> -Fainting  
> -Mentions of death
> 
> There's probably something I'm missing but I'll just edit this after I get some sleep.

Waking up was normally a chore, but this time Blue found it to be quite easy.

Well, to be fair, seeing someone leaning over him as he was sleeping probably helped.

"WH-"

"Shh, Blue, it's ok, there's no need to panic." A hand covered Blues mouth before he could scream and alert the others- a familiar hand covered in black goop.

Blue slouched a little, looking up at Nightmare with what must surely be shocked eye sockets.

"...Sorry for freaking out." Blue panted as soon as Nightmare removed his hand.

"You have nothing to apologize for."

"....O-Oh…." Blue looked away from Nightmare in slight discomfort. Being told it wasn't his fault felt… weird for some reason.

  
  


Looking around the room quickly, Blue noticed that he, thankfully, hadn't woken anyone else up. "Um, Nightmare, what time is it?" Blue frowned at Nightmare, who quickly answered.

"It's five in the morning."

Blue internally sighed. Five in the morning was quite early, but he knows it would be pointless to try to go back to sleep. 

The skeleton shifted slightly, gently pressing his feet against the floor. Nightmare quickly moved aside, allowing Blue to stand up.

Careful not to wake up Fresh, Error, or the three skeletons on the floor, Blue quickly walked towards the kitchen. If he was awake, he might as well grab a glass of water.

"Do you need something?" Nightmare asked Blue, following him into the kitchen.

"Just a glass of water… please," Blue quickly tacked on the please at the end of the sentence. 

"Let me get that for you." Nightmare quickly pulled out a glass of water from the cupboard, filling it up with cold water at the sink.

He handed the cup to Blue, who took it and quickly looked to the ground.

"You didn't have to do that… I was going to do it myself."

"It's fine, Blue. Now how about you finish that glass of water and go back to sleep?"

Blue shook his head, taking a small sip from the glass.

"Now that I'm wide awake I doubt I'll be able to go to sleep. And if I do,I probably won't be able to sleep for very long. Maybe an hour or two at the most." Blue whispered, taking another small sip as he finished explaining. 

"Alright then, just be careful to not wake up the others."

"Ok….. but, um, Nightmare? Why were you leaning over me?" Blue frowned at the negative guardian, subconsciously leaning forward slightly as he asked the question.

Blue quickly finished his glass of water as Nightmare answered the question. "You were about to have a dream, so I got closer to you to ensure that I would be able to prevent you from having it." Nightmare hastily stuck his hands in his pockets, the waving of his tentacles becoming slightly more jagged. 

"Oh, is that always what you do when stopping a dream?"

"Sometimes, yes." Nightmare reached out and took the empty glass of water from Blue, putting it away in the dishwasher with the rest of the dirty dishes.

Blue just hummed slightly, folding his hands awkwardly in front of him.

"....Any plans for today?" Blue asked Nightmare abruptly, staring intently at his feet in awkward silence.

"Nothing too new. I'm going to work with Error and Fresh, and I have to go to Reapertale to pick up some HP food from Life. I'll probably go on a quick supply run after that," Nightmare explained softly.

Oh, it was Wednesday. Blue hadn't noticed that fact before.

Ever since Error woke up Nightmare had been working with him and Fresh to make sure that they would fully recover. 

In their panicked state over Error, they all seemed to have forgotten that Fresh had been drained of magic along with Error, but now Nightmare was trying to remedy that by working with the both of them to ensure that they get better as soon as possible.

Fresh had been restricted in terms of how much magic he was allowed to use a day, and Error wasn't allowed to use magic, period. Error whined about this rule a  _ lot  _ at the beginning, but now his whining has devolved into muttered curses (which would end up being censored by Fresh).

Occasionally, he was allowed to summon a few strings to be able to get rid of some of the excess magic. This was to reduce the chances of Error having yet another seizure, or going into shock.

Most of Errors recovery was spent in physiotherapy, trying to recover some of his strength that he lost during his 14 month long coma. It was going… somewhat ok? 

Error could walk for a maximum of five minutes without collapsing, but it was still really good compared to how he had been a month ago.

After a quick conversation with Reaper (it needed to be brief to be able to prevent the god of death from latching onto Error) they all came up with a schedule to aid Error in his recovery. Every Wednesday Nightmare would head over to Reapertale to collect HP food made by Life, Geno and Reaper would be the ones to give him the food of course.

Geno… 

Blue froze for a moment, a new thought coming to his mind.

...Did Geno know that Basil remembered him?

Blue remembered Basil saying that Geno was unaware of it… and surely Geno would have mentioned it the last time he saw him?? Because if he was aware of it he would have resented him for 'locking Aftertale' before he got corrected, would he not??

What should he do… should he tell Geno? Geno technically has a right to know, does he not?? Would Geno get mad at him for not telling him sooner?? Or would he get mad at Blue for telling him??

Should Blue just ignore this? What-

  
  


"Blue? Are you ok?" Nightmare placed a comforting hand on Blues shoulder, causing him to jump.

"What!? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

"...Are you sure? You were becoming quite panicked."

  
  


"Oh, yeah, haha, I'm fine. Just… thinking of telling Geno something..," Blue quietly aughed. The laughter was obviously fake, both of them being able to recognize that fact immediately. Blue shook off Nightmare's hand, the other peering curiously at him.

"You need to tell Geno something? What is it?" Nightmare asked, causing Blue to shuffle uncomfortably. 

"Um… I don't know if he'd want me to say it? And, also, this seems like something really, personal, but probably something he should know," Blue blurted out.

"Ah, I see. Well, if you want, you could come with me to Reapertale. You could even join me on the supply run if you want to get out of the hideout a bit more," Nightmare offered, and Blue found himself agreeing.

"Yeah… that sounds good. Um, thanks, Nightmare." 

  
  


"Don't worry about it."

  
  


"...Good morning." Blue jumped and quickly spun around, spotting Fresh standing by the doorway, rubbing his eye sockets sleepily.

"Did we wake you? Oh my god Fresh, I am  _ so sorry."  _

"It's fine, no worries." Fresh quickly raised a hand to stop Blue mid rant.

"So… what's for breakfast?" He yawned, stretching slightly.

"I was thinking of making pancakes."

"That sounds rad." 

  
  


The rest of the morning would be peaceful. But, unfortunately, the end of the morning would bring the end of the peaceful atmosphere.

~~~~

  
  


"Well, you've certainly gotten better at walking." 

"Yeah, no sh(oot) Nightmare."

"How did you manage to improve so much in such a short time?"

"I decided to sacrifice Dust to some ancient deity in order to be gifted my strength back. Worked like a charm too."

"...Error…what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything, I'm just a fast learner," Error sighed sarcastically, rolling his eye lights.

"...Error….were you the one who stole some of Dust's chemicals?"

"Ok...so maybe I did, what then?" Error scoffed, causing Nightmare to gasp.

"ERROR YOU KNOW MIXING RANDOM CHEMICALS TOGETHER AND DRINKING THEM IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH!!!"

  
  


"THEY WERE  _ NOT  _ RANDOM, AND THEY HELPED ME GET BETTER, DIDN'T THEY??"

"ERROR THAT DOESN'T EXCUSE IT!!!"

  
  


"...It's a good thing Error is immortal." Fresh sighed from beside Blue who wholeheartedly agreed.

"He would've been dead a long time ago if he wasn't." Blue flinched as the yelling match continued, playing with his bandanna absent-mindedly in anxiety.

He missed the concerned and thoughtful frown Fresh shot his way.

"YOU KNOW WHAT, THIS CONVERSATION IS F(UNK)ING OVER! JUST DON'T EXPECT TO GET DESSERT TODAY." 

Error glared back at Nightmare once he heard about the desert ban, crossing his arms over his chest.

Nightmare rolled his eye light in annoyance and turned away from Error, now facing Blue.

"I'm going to go to Reapertale in about ten minutes. Are you still coming, Blue?" Nightmare asked him.

Blue blinked in surprise at Nightmare's sudden mood shift. When he finally processed the question Nightmare asked him, he rushed to reply.

"O-oh, yeah, I'm still coming," Blue stuttered out, quickly standing up.

Nightmare nodded, and then turned to Fresh. "Could you watch Error and make sure he doesn't do any more dumb things? You're the most responsible person here." Fresh made an affirmative noise and quickly stood up, going to Errors side.

Fresh reached out an arm to the now wobbling Error, offering some stability. Error seemingly begrudgingly grabbed Freshs arm. 

"No problem Night." Fresh quickly checked that Error was ok before slowly walking with him towards the door.

Once they left the room, Blue hesitantly spoke up.

"...Is it common for Error to do that? You sound like you've had that argument before…"

"Unfortunately it's happened many more times then I would have liked. One of these days he's going to give me a soul attack I swear..," Nightmare sighed again and put a hand on his forehead, his tentacles waving in irritation.

  
  


"Oh…. I'm sorry?" Blue wasn't really sure what to say in response to that news.

"...You apologize an awful lot, don't you?" Nightmare peered at Blue, his gaze turning somewhat analytical. Almost as if he was searching Blue for… something.

"Oh, uh, I guess?" Blue was left slightly speechless once again. It's almost funny, thinking of how outspoken and confident he used to be, especially in conversations. Now it feels like he can't go more than five minutes without tripping over his own tongue. 

"Hm, I wonder…," Nightmare trailed off. "I'm going to go grab the basket, I'll be back in a bit." Nightmare addressed Blue before melting into a shadow and zipping away.

  
  


Blue was left standing awkwardly in the room, bouncing back on his heels as he played with his bandanna.

He kind of missed his old fidget cube…. it helped him a lot. He should probably get a new fidget toy… but where would he even get one from?

Maybe from the AU him and Nightmare would go to on the supply run? But who knows if they would even have fidget toys? Of course, he could ask Nightmare to go specifically to an AU that had fidget toys… but he didn't want to come off as rude. Especially since there were quite a few AUs that got locked…

It was really stupid of him to go along with Inks plan. Now look at him, suffering because of it.

He's so stupid…. It's embarrassing now looking back on all the stupid stuff he did…

Like the first time he tried training with Alphys…. yikes.

Papy was really upset when he came back hurt…. Papyrus…. who's now dead.

Tears blurred Blues vision as he became anxious, trembling slightly.

He missed Papyrus so much… but it almost felt like he didn't. These past few months have been so busy that he rarely had time to mourn his own brother…

His brother who would probably be  _ so  _ disappointed with him.

God, Blue was the worst brother ever. Papyrus must have been ashamed when he was alive… 

  
  


"Blue?? What's wrong??" A voice snapped Blue out of his thoughts. Blue quickly whipped his head up to see Nightmare standing by him, looking at him in concern. "Why are you crying? Blue, what happened?" 

"S-sorry, I was thinking of my brother." Blue shakily explained, using his hands to wipe the tears off his face. "J-just give me a m-minute before we leave." 

Nightmare nodded and backed up a little, giving Blue space to try and calm himself down.

It took a bit of deep breathing, and his bandanna did unfortunately have to be used to wipe off most of his tears. But Blue eventually pulled himself together.

  
  


"I'm ready now, Nightmare. Sorry for breaking down like that." Blue hastily stuck his bandanna in his pocket, straightening himself off.

"Are you sure you're ok with doing this, Blue? You can come next week instead if you want?"

"No, it's fine… let's just leave. I already delayed us enough." Blue took a deep breath, watching Nightmare open a portal to Reapertale.

"If you insist you're fine, let's go." 

The two of them entered the portal, finding themselves in front of Reaper, Geno, and Respites shared house.

Nightmare quickly went up to the front door and knocked, waiting a few seconds until Geno swung open the door.

"You fucking  _ finally  _ came." He scoffed, causing Nightmare to narrow his eyelight at him.

"Yes, we did. Now are you going to move aside and let us come in or would you rather stall some more?"

Geno glared at Nightmare and shuffled out of the way, letting the two of them enter.

"I almost feel like I'm getting deja vu..," Blue muttered, looking around the living room.

"Well thank  _ god  _ you came too, Reaper was called into an 'emergency meeting' with the star bitches and if I was left along with Nightmare one of us wouldn't be leaving this alive." Geno rolled his eye light as Nightmare narrowed his own eye socket.

"Star….bitches?" Blue snorted at the ridiculous nickname, finding that it suited them quite well.

The other two people in the room looked at him in confusion, before shrugging off the odd behavior.

"Do you have the basket?"

"Of course I do. I'm no scatterbrain." Nightmare pulled out a large basket from his inventory, handing it to Geno.

"Really? I could've mistaken you for one. Just, let me go fill that for you." Geno turned on his heel and stomped into the kitchen, causing Nightmare to grumble at his immaturity.

Blue felt a wave of anxiety wash over him as he thought of telling Geno about Basil.

But… it's the right thing to do, isn't it?

  
  


Blue felt a tentacle wrap around his wrist, Nightmare undoubtedly feeling his inner turmoil.

Once again Blue was hit with the strong sensation of deja vu.

Geno came out of the kitchen soon after that, handing Nightmare the basket which was now filled with HP food.

"There you go. Alright now byeeeee, leave before I actually end up puking from the sight of your face." Geno fake gagged, the animosity between the two filling the air.

"...What on earth happened between you two?" Blue blurted out, looking at the two skeletons glaring at each other.

" _ Someone  _ here just has really  _ awful  _ taste in regards to Undernovela." Geno ground out, causing Nightmare to smirk.

"Well it's not  _ my  _ fault if he's upset that I'm right." 

  
  


He couldn't do anything but watch in shock as the two of them entered an intense staring contest.

  
  


...Blue distinctly remembers Nightmare saying that he doesn't care about Undernovela… why is he getting into disagreements with Geno over it?

  
  


"What? I can't tell if you're being serious right now." Blue tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"Genos annoyance over the situation makes me stronger," Nightmare offered as an explanation.

  
  


Oh…. Nightmare was purposefully provoking Geno…. 

  
  


That makes much more sense.

  
  


"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Geno huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

  
  


For some reason the position brought Blue yet  _ another  _ bout of deja vu, though he didn't know why. It was around this moment that Blue realized that the two of them were teasing each other, which just made the deja vu more intense.

"Blue, do you still want to talk to Geno?" Nightmare asked him, peaking Genos interest.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Geno seemed confused, making Blue grip onto the tentacle wrapped around his wrist anxiously.

"Well, yeah…. I don't want to make you upset…. But I feel like it's something you should probably know…." Blue explained, using his free head to awkwardly rub the back of his skull.

"Upset? Why would it make me upset?" Geno frowned at him.

"Well, because it's about Basil…"

"Basil?"

"Oh, sorry, I meant Aftertale Papyrus…" Blue watched as Genos eye socket widened, his mouth gaping slightly.

" _ What. _ " Blue winced at Genos harsh tone, squeezing Nightmares tentacle slightly. "What do you mean it's about Aftertale Papyrus? And why are you calling him Basil? Also- why are you even telling  _ me  _ about him? He doesn't even remember me." 

  
  


"W-well… I'm calling him Basil because that was what he wanted his multiverse nickname to be. And, um, about that last comment. He actually  _ does _ remember you, and I thought you'd like to know so you could possibly visit him after Aftertale gets unlocked? He, uh, said that he missed you the last few times we spoke…" Blue trailed off, watching Genos face for any sign of anger.

"...What do you mean he remembers me? That's not possible, is it? He probably remembers the Sans that came after me. And the next RESET would probably wipe his memories." Geno said after around a minute of processing.

"No, he remembers  _ you  _ specifically. He even specified that you left the AU with Reaper… Aftertale actually hasn't been RESET in years, apparently the kid stopped RESETing after completing a neutral run that left Papyrus as the king… I don't know, I just thought you'd want to know about that." 

Finally looking away from Geno, Blue noticed Nightmare watching him with a quirked brow.

  
  


Geno looked a bit dizzy, quickly leaning against the closest wall to keep himself upright.

"So he… remembers me? But why would he want to see me?" Geno shakily asked. "I mean, he has his own brother after all."

"Actually, the other Sans had been killed during that neutral run. And, even though you're technically his brother from a different timeline, Basil still sees you as his brother," Blue explained, playing around with Nightmares tentacle.

"Oh… I see…. Well, thank you for telling me." Geno pushed himself off the wall, still looking a bit sick.

"Now, I need some alone time, so I need you two to fuck off and leave." Geno shakily opened the door, an invitation to leave.

Nightmare immediately nodded, grabbing Blue and gently pulling him out the door.

"Thank you for providing up with HP food, Geno. I'll see you next week." Geno raised his hand in a short wave and quickly slammed the door shut.

Blue immediately looked to the ground, feeling slightly guilty.

None of them said anything for a moment. Until Nightmare decided to break the silence, that is.

"Blue? Do you still feel up to going on the supply run?" Nightmare asked him. Blue sucked in a breath and nodded.

"Yeah. It would be pointless to just go home now. I'll join you on the supply run." Nightmare smiled slightly at Blue, opening his mouth to say something.

Then, all of a sudden, he froze.

"...Nightmare? What's wro-"

_ "Oh no." _

"Nightmare??"

"Blue, we need to leave,  _ now." _

"What's going on-"

_ "BLUE!?" _

  
  


Blue froze for a fraction of a second, quickly turning around afterwards.

  
  


He could swear that he felt his soul stop at the sight that greeted him.

A portal was open, obviously made by Reaper who was standing beside it, shock evident on his face.

Slightly in front of Reaper was Ink, who was reaching backwards to grab Broomy, murderous intent written all over his face.

And in front of them was Dream, who had called for Blue while reaching out a hand to him. His golden eye lights seemed to have shrunk a bit, probably from shock.

Blue didn't know what to do, he completely froze. He distantly noted that he started hearing a high pitched ringing noise all of a sudden.

_ I don't want to leave Nightmare please please PLEASE don't make me leave him I don't want to go back please don't make me go back I want to stay with him please please please don't force me to go back I don't want to go back with the Stars- _

Just as Dream took another step forward, saying something that Blue couldn't hear, he felt tentacles wrap around him as he was harshly tugged into a portal.

Blue watched the scenery turn into some random AU, then it changed again; becoming the hideout.

  
  
  


Blue was still frozen, breathing harshly as he stared off into space, feeling his body trembling. He could barely process the hands that suddenly grabbed him over his panic, not being able to comprehend much.

_ Please please please don't make me leave don't make me I don't want to go back with them I CAN'T GO BACK WITH THEM- _

  
  


Everything turned black.

  
  


~~~~

  
  


Fresh watched as Blue passed out in Nightmares arms, having obviously had some sort of panic attack.

It was obvious at first glance that he wasn't the only one in a panicked state, Nightmares eyelight was a little too small- a little too blurry, his tentacles were aggressively slashing behind him and his breathing was unsteady.

"Dad,  _ what happened?"  _ Cross cried out, quickly jumping forward to see what was wrong with Blue.

Dust got up off the couch as well to see what happened, his tense body language and his deep frown screamed worried.

Fresh could hear the clacking noises of knitting needles pause from beside him, Error was obviously worried too.

Horror was cooking dinner, so he probably had no idea what was going on, but if he did he probably would have paused too.

"Nightmare. What happened?" Fresh asked, slowly standing up as well.

  
  


"I don't know why Blue passed out. Well, no, that's not true. I know  _ why  _ he passed out, but I don't understand it." Nightmare frowned down at Blue, seemingly talking to himself.

"Boss? Did you guys see something out there?" Dust asked, studying the agitated pattern of Nightmares tentacles.

"In Reapertale we saw the Stars."

"You saw the squidiot and the rotten lemon?" Error asked, attempting to stand too. He managed to stand on his own, albeit very shakily.

"Yes, we did. But seeing them immediately sent Blue into a panicked state… but why…. something is obviously up between the three of them..." Nightmare frowned, and Fresh could practically see the gears whirring in his head.

"There was something wrong with Ink as well… Dream felt a lot of regret when he saw Blue, but Ink felt nothing. I've never felt that from him before, or in general. No, but- that doesn't make sense…. it almost feels like…" Nightmare trailed off, still not properly paying attention to any of them.

_ "Dad,"  _ Cross placed a hand on Nightmares shoulder, finally snapping him out of his trance.

"Right. We need to do something about Blue. I'm going to lay Blue down on a mattress, we need to get a pillow or two under his legs. Someone go alert Horror of the situation, and get a cup of water for him to drink when he wakes up."

Fresh immediately responded to Nightmares words, going to the kitchen to alert Horror. He found Horror squatting on the ground, looking into the oven. 

"Horror, there's a situation going on." Fresh immediately warned Horror the second he laid his eyelights on the other.

"A situation? What's going on?" Horror frowned, turning his head away from the oven and towards Fresh.

"Blue and Nightmare saw Dream and Ink when they were out, Blue ended up passing out. We're not sure why, but I suspect it's from some sort of panic attack," Fresh spoke as seriously as possible, trying to make Horror realize how important this was.

Horror eye lights widened as he stood up.

"Should I prepare some HP food for Blue or-"

"Nightmare only asked for a cup of water."

Horror nodded and went to get a cup of water, Fresh immediately leaving the room when he saw this.

Fresh couldn't help but replay Nightmares words from earlier over and over again in his head. Something about what Nightmare said was very  _ off. _

There was something extremely fishy going on here, and Fresh was going to find out what it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, fun fact, I've been having like a mini mental breakdown over TLBCAD. It's nothing to do with writing it- oh no. It's just... unless I drastically change my outline I only have around 20 chapters until the fic ends and... I don't really want it to end. So I've been thinking a lot about the ending while trying my best not to burst out into tears. And I've been thinking about when the fUCKING MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH TAG IS COMING INTO PLAY AND AS THE AUTHOR EVEN I AM NOT READY FOR IT. I LITERALLY WAS ON THE VERGE OF A MENTAL BREAKDOWN THINKING ABOUT THIS YESTERDAY.
> 
> ...Holy hell the hormones are high right now.
> 
> Haha, ok. If you want to yell at me about anything in this chapter, or these authors notes, you can do that over on my tumblr!
> 
> call-me-diva2.tumblr.com


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was obvious that something happened with the stars, something that Blue wasn't telling them about. If all that truly happened was them lying to Blue, he wouldn't have passed out from seeing them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not too happy with this chapter, but whatever.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER:
> 
> -There is the suspicion of someone being mentally abused

Error glared at him, obviously annoyed. "Really, Fresh, I'm not allowed to say b(roseph) now?" 

"Well, it's offensive," Fresh shrugged, whispering back to the upset destroyer.

Error rolled his eyes and continued knitting, working on what Fresh believed to be a new sweater? Dust had been complaining about being cold recently, and whatever it is was in his favorite color. The huge ball of yarn was sitting in a basket Nightmare had left by the armchair, Errors new favorite place now that he couldn't use his magic.

Fresh was sitting on the couch, thinking about what had transpired about an hour ago. And Blue was on the mattress, still passed out.

Dust, Cross, Horror, and Nightmare had left the AU to go on a supply raid. Whilst they didn't want to leave the AU after seeing the Stars, especially when Blue was with Nightmare, they needed the supplies.

Fresh and Error had been left behind to watch Blue because they weren't as well off as the others in terms of health. He didn't really mind, it gave him more time to think about what had happened.

Blue had had a panic attack after seeing Ink and Dream, which doesn't make sense with the information they had been given.

It was obvious that something happened with the stars, something that Blue wasn't telling them about. If all that truly happened was them lying to Blue, he wouldn't have passed out from seeing them. It wouldn't explain his behavior these past few months either.

Fresh had noted that Blue was behaving differently ever since he joined them. Sure, there was the possibility that it was due to him losing his AU— but there's some things that don't fit.

Like Blues constant apologizing. When Fresh had known Blue before, while the other would always apologize when he was wrong he  _ never  _ used to apologize quite this frequently. Blue apologized often, even when the thing he was apologizing for wasn't his fault. 

Actually, that fit a lot with how some victims of emotional abuse would act…

Hm…

Of course, it's possible that Blue  _ wasn't  _ abused, but the possibility seems likely.

It would make sense why Blue had a panic attack and subsequently passed out. It would explain the reason Blue apologized so much, or why he'd sometimes flinch whenever someone would yell. 

One of the most prominent examples of that was when Dust and Cross were playing Mario Kart together; the two of them were yelling and laughing, just having fun in general. Fresh couldn't help but notice how oddly silent Blue was, how he was fiddling with his bandanna, and how he would flinch whenever someone was particularly loud.

Nightmare came into the room not long after that to ask who was so upset, and if everything was ok. Blue hadn't said anything, but Nightmare was still looking at  _ him  _ in concern, and Fresh saw Nightmare approach Blue later on.

Blue also had a tendency to blame everything on himself, no matter how minor or impossible it was.

Or if someone was in trouble, Blue always instantly assumed it was him. One time Error entered the living room while being carried by Nightmare— demanding to know who had done something, but before he even got the chance to finish Blue asked if he had done something wrong.

That was weird, because Blue  _ didn't  _ do anything wrong,  _ Dust  _ was the one to play the prank on Error. Blue asks for someone elses opinion on most things that he does too… 

One time when Fresh asked him why this was; Blue simply answered that he didn't trust his own judgment… Why wouldn't someone trust their own judgment? His first thoughts go to gaslighting in that situation.

Fresh has also seen Blues face scrunching up when one of them start talking to him, almost as if he's waiting for  _ something  _ to happen.

There was also Blues touch aversion, almost like how him, Nightmare, and Error all had touch aversions. Errors glitches would sometimes cause being touched to hurt, and back when Fate controlled him  _ any  _ physical contact would hurt, so that made sense.

Nightmare was obviously abused at some point in life— though he would  _ never  _ admit that, so that was probably why.

But why Blue? The only thing that made the most sense if he were to be physically abused by the Star-

Oh wait… Blue had ADHD… which means he might be hypersensitive… nevermind.

But there was no doubt about it in his mind, Blue was definitely abused in some way by Ink and Dream, most likely mental abuse.

Blue hasn't mentioned anything about this to any of them— which isn't too shocking, but he obviously won't bring it up to any of them.

Which means Fresh should probably gently bring the subject up, but he definitely  _ shouldn't  _ force the other to talk about it if he doesn't want to, that'll probably just cause him to get clammy and even more closed off.

But when? And how? Probably a moment when Blue is relaxed, asking the other when he's already upset would make it more likely to clam up. 

"What are you analyzing over there?" Error spoke up, Fresh quickly turning around to look at him.

"...Nothing important." Fresh shrugged off Errors question. He didn't want to alert the other of his suspicions in case he was wrong.

"Whatever I guess, it's not like I wanted to know or anything." Error scoffed at Freshs dismissal, rolling his eye lights.

"Yeah, sure you don't." Fresh sighed at the sarcasm.

Fresh zoned out yet again, resuming his pondering on what to do with Blue.

~~ If he couldn't do anything about this he'd just feel useless. ~~

~~~~

Blue woke up around 40 minutes later.

He opened his eye sockets and let out a little groan, alerting the other two people in the room that he's awake.

Fresh instantly shot up from the couch, going to kneel beside Blue. Error couldn't get up nearly as quick, but he managed to get up and shakily make his way to them.

"Blue!? How are you feeling??" Blue looked very disoriented, trying to sit up. Fresh moved to sit beside Error by Blues feet, allowing him to sit up.

Blue blinked blearily, looking around. His eye lights were slightly fuzzy, showing just how tired he was.

Error and Fresh both waited a bit for Blue to fully wake up, and when Blue showed signs of being fully aware Fresh couldn't help but smile in relief.

"Fresh..? Error..? What's?" Blue looked confused, and Error decided to jump in.

" _ Apparently _ you decided to take a page out of my book and pass out— not cool by the way." Error glared playful at Blue, who winced and shrunk into himself.

"S-sorry…"

"Blue, it's fine, Error's not upset. You don't need to apologize." Fresh quickly jumped in to assure Blue before he could get upset.

"Oh….He isn't? So-"

"Nope. No need to apologize." Fresh cut off Blue before he could apologize again.

Blues eye sockets widened and he opened his mouth— but quickly closed it again.

_ He probably wanted to apologize again… _

"Why did I pass out? I can't remember…"

"You went out with Nightmare to get my HP food, and while you were out you saw Ink and Dream. When you came back you just passed out."

Blue froze at that, and Fresh could see the recognition in his eye lights. That clearly made him remember what happened.

"Oh….. right," Blues voice was shaky as he started to slowly curl up on himself. Error frowned at Blue, and Fresh couldn't help the similar frown that creased his face too. 

"Where's Nightmare?" Blue asked, frowning back at the two of them.

"Out on a raid with Dust, Horror, and Cross. Do you have something you need to talk to him about?" Blue shook his head.

Fresh quickly got up once this happened, remembering something he needed to do once Blue woke up. He went and retrieved the glass of water— giving it to a thankful Blue.

The three of them sat in silence as Blue sipped the water, Error fidgeting. It was clear that the other was impatient, probably wanting to ask Blue what happened. Error adored drama and beating up Ink, if getting Blue to tell him what happened would get him drama  _ and  _ an excuse to beat up Ink— he would definitely be pushing Blue. But Fresh had to make sure that his questioning didn't go too far, they needed to be mindful of Blues feelings.

"Blue, can you tell us why you reacted like that?" Blue swiftly looked away from Fresh once he asked that, staring at the crumpled up blanket laying beside him.

"I-it's n-nothing," Blue hugged his legs to his chest, and the stutter wasn't lost on Fresh— even Error became concerned.

It wasn't that Error  _ wasn't  _ concerned before, but more so he didn't really realize the implications of why Blue passed out.

"...There's no way it's nothing if you went unconscious." Blue only hid his skull in his legs, refusing to look at either of them. Error looked even more concerned, which was understandable. Blue was a very open person who would ramble about anything and  _ everything  _ if given the chance, normally if you wanted to know something from him all you'd have to do is ask. So for him to be so closed off isn't something normal, at least, for the Blue that Error  _ remembers. _

Error still isn't quite used to Blues new behavior; sometimes giving the other confused looks when he does something contradictory to his previous habits. 

"I-It's fine… I'm just being overdramatic." Oh, now  _ that  _ was a red flag if Fresh had ever heard one. Error only looked confused at the statement, but Fresh was extremely worried. 

"Blue… You passed out. That's not being overdramatic," Fresh spoke slowly, trying to be as gentle as possible. Blue seemed to disagree with this notion as he shook his head, still concealing his face in his legs.

"I  _ passed out  _ because  _ I saw someone _ , how is that not overdramatic!?" Blue groaned, and Fresh could see his legs trembling slightly. 

"Well there's a reason you passed out, isn't there?" Error asked Blue, who didn't respond.

"We should probably call Nightmare, shouldn't we? Error can you do that?" Fresh asked the destroyer. 

"Yeah, sure, fine. Whatever," Error shrugged and quickly stuck his hand into his pocket, taking out his phone.

"...How long have I been out for?" Blue asked, resting his chin on his legs. 

Fresh noted how tense he still was, how soft his voice was, and his lack of eye contact.

"Around 2 hours at this point— I don't know the exact time." Blue hummed in acknowledgement, and that was when Error spoke.

"Blue woke up. You should probably come home as soon as possible… He seems to be somewhat ok… No, not much… Alright, I'll leave that to you… See you when you get here," Error promptly hung up. "Nightmare's coming as soon as possible with the others."

"Ok. Blue, do you want a refill of the water?" Fresh asked Blue, and he nodded.

"Yes please…" Fresh grabbed the empty glass and got up, quickly entering the kitchen to refill it.

When Fresh left the kitchen he saw Blue standing in the middle of the room, extending a hand to help Error get up.

Error looked at the hand— huffed in frustration— then took it. 

Error let go as soon as he stood up, immediately making his way back to the armchair. Blue sat on the couch and Fresh approached him, sitting down beside him.

Blue took the glass from him and smiled, Fresh smiled back.

A few second later a portal opened up and a blur shot out of it, leaping at Blue. Blue and Fresh both gasped as the glass of water suddenly got poured on the both of them.

"Blue!!!! You're ok!!!!! I was really worried!" The blur was Cross.  _ Of course  _ the blur was Cross. 

"Oh— I, um sorry!" Blue apologized, wiggling a little bit in discomfort.

Cross seemed to notice, unlatching himself from Blue and getting off the couch. It was only at this moment that he seemed to notice that he got wet too.

The next second two more figures emerged from the portal— Dust and Horror. 

Dust was shaking his head fondly, and Horror was sighing.

Nightmare came out of the portal last, looking quite annoyed.

"Cross, you  _ know  _ the risks of running into a portal that hasn't been fully formed yet you  _ still  _ chose to do it." Cross looked a little sheepish at that. 

Nightmares eye light then focused on the wet patch on Cross' clothing, observing the similar state of Blue and Fresh's clothing.

"Dust, Horror, go start putting away the supplies. Cross and Fresh, you two need to change and then help the two of them out. And Blue can you come with me? I need to speak to you."

Everyone nodded and went to go do their respective chores.

Fresh couldn't help but notice just how nervous Blue was as him and Cross left the room, starting their trip to their respective rooms.

"....So, glad that we get to skip out of doing some of the work." Cross smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

"I guess… But you really shouldn't have launched yourself at Blue like that— he woke up not too long ago," Fresh took a page out of Nightmares book and scolded Cross.

"...Do you know what happened to Blue? Why he passed out?" Cross hesitantly asked, Fresh knew that it probably took him a lot of self restraint to avoid asking it for so long. It made sense, they were all worried about Blue after that (even Horror, though he would never admit it); and Cross was never too patient when it came to things that worried him.

"I don't know what happened, Blue refused to tell me. Even if I did, I don't think it would be my place to tell..," Cross looked disappointed, but nodded.

"Yeah… I hope this doesn't happen again." Fresh agreed with the sentiment, it would suck for this to happen again.

  
  


The two of them parted ways as they entered their respective rooms. Fresh's eye lights probably would have started hurting at the sudden amount of bright colors if it wasn't for his glasses.

His room was a neon mess— just the way he liked it.

"Hey guys." He absent-mindedly greeted his row of Furbies, something that always kept the others out of his room.

He opened his wardrobe and picked out a long bright red hoodie, grabbing a pair of neon green tights along with it.

Fresh quickly changed, and as he finished he couldn't help but sigh.

Why had things started going so wrong since the collapse? ...It didn't really make sense now that he's thinking of it.

The multiverse just  _ happened  _ to start collapsing and ended up killing Killer; but at the same time Error and him ended up getting abandoned in an Underdecay copy because Error just so happened to fall into a coma?

And then they just so happened to be found by Blue who literally  _ just  _ quit being a Star Sans, and then Nightmare offers to let him join the gang?

And there was the whole thing with Fate, and Reaper, and now with Blue and the Stars? 

Something is wrong here, that  _ clearly  _ isn't natural. 

  
  


Fresh couldn't help but ponder about it as he made his way back to the living room, seeing that Cross was already there. He couldn't help but feel slightly guilty at that, especially seeing how much supplies they already got through.

He's spent so many months imposing on their kindness and staying in the hideout and this is how he repays them.

Fresh started feeling  _ very  _ upset after that.

"Hey Freshy, can you help my restock the training room?" Dust asked, his arms full of what looked to be HP items.

"Yeah, sure no problem." Fresh quickly scooped up some of the items too and followed Dust into the training room.

~~ He should make himself useful. If he doesn't make himself useful he might as well leave again. ~~


	38. Chapter 38

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Hello citizens of the multiverse. I'm sorry to make an emergency broadcast on such short notice— but we unfortunately have some very grave news to announce.
> 
> Uh oh, Ink sounded much more professional than usual. Whatever this was, it was going to be terrible news.
> 
> Also known as the chapter where word gets out about the sighting of Blue and Nightmare in Reapertale.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! Happy end of 2020! 
> 
> Sorry that it took me so long to get this chapter out, I was a bit preoccupied. Honestly, I'm not really sure how to feel about it. But, whatever, just take it. I KNOW today isn't Wednesday, but I just wanted to get this chapter up early because I felt guilty haha. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Because from here on out we're slowly starting to crawl towards the climax of the fic!
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER
> 
> -Mentions of death, but it's nothing detailed or specific. (You'll see what I mean when you read the chapter!)

Blue was extremely jumpy the day after they saw the stars in Aftertale, getting scared at the slightest movement. It was so dumb— how could he be  _ this  _ upset from seeing them!?

He was being so overdramatic it was embarrassing.  _ Especially  _ when he had passed out. Blue made everyone worry for no reason…

Fresh and Error had both asked him if he was ok— and insisted that he wasn't being overdramatic (which was wrong. He's obviously being overdramatic. Maybe he just remembers what they said wrong?). Nightmare even asked him afterwards what happened, and if he was ok.

They were all fussing over him, but it wasn't really that big of a deal, right?

He felt extremely guilty for just wasting all of their time like that.

His sense of paranoia got even worse after Nightmare announced that the two stars were scheduling an emergency broadcast that day.

It was obvious what they wanted to discuss—  _ him. _

Last night he had barely gotten any sleep; too busy panicking over seeing the two of them. Nightmare had offered to help him, but Blue declined. Nightmare was supposed to be focused on preventing dreams, forcing him to use extra magic was unnecessary.

Blue suspects that Nightmare still did it, considering that he managed to fall asleep in the end. 

The anxiety followed him around the next day, rendering him unable to do a lot of things he'd normally be able to do— like eat.

Fresh seemed to stick by him much more than before, rarely ever leaving his side. Cross also seemed to stick closer to him throughout the day...

  
  


"The broadcast should start in about ten minutes according to the time that was announced yesterday," Nightmare declared, snapping him out of his reverie.

His words immediately caught the attention of everyone else in the room as well— who were all watching Nightmare with rapt interest.

They all watched Nightmare in silence for a few moments; which seemed to unnerve him. "What is it? Why are you watching me like that?" He snapped, his tentacles curling in on themselves slightly.

"Do you have any idea what the announcement is going to say, boss?" Horror asked Nightmare, who shrugged.

"It'll probably be about Blue, but what exactly they're going to say I have zero clue."

"They're probably going to make it sound like we're torturing him or something," Cross snorted from where he was slumped against the couch beside Blue.

"Pfft, what a bunch of drama queens."

"You're one to talk, Error!"

"What. I have no clue what you mean. I'm not dramatic— I've never been dramatic before." The deadpan tone that Error used was what tipped Blue over the edge; causing him to burst out into hysterical laughter.

Blue could faintly register the laughter that spilled out of Cross, who was doubled over in laughter. 

He felt a hand rest on his shoulder and turned his head to look at Fresh— who was smiling slightly at him with a furrowed brow.

"Are you ok, broski? You're shaking." Blue wiped away the tears leaking from his eye sockets as he giggled. He couldn't help but notice the way his hand trembled now that Fresh pointed it out.

"Oh, um, sorry— mwehehe! Just a little nervous," Blue tried to smile in a reassuring manner at Fresh. He had no idea whether or not he succeeded.

The blue clad skeleton started nervously playing with his bandanna as he felt an eye light train on him inquisitively. 

Were his emotions that weird??? Should he apologize??? What should he do???

"Is the popcorn done? I need some way of venting my annoyance once the broadcast starts," Horror grumbled, causing Nightmare to sigh.

"Of course, I just need to bring it here. Dust," said skeleton in question perked up at hearing his name ", this is your official warning: if you  _ dare  _ throw popcorn at the tv again you will have double chores for a month. Am I understood?"

Dust merely smirked from where he was lounging on one of the matresses on the floor. 

"You know I can't promise anything."

Nightmare scoffed at that, rolling his eye light as he turned on his heel towards the kitchen— presumably to go grab the snacks.

That assumption was proven correct as Nightmare came back moments later, carrying multiple bowls.

Dust immediately made grabby hands at one of the bowls, but Nightmare glared at him as he passed it to Horror instead, who was sitting by the edge of the couch. 

Horror let out a harsh laugh as Dust started whining, grabbing a fistfull of popcorn and stuffing it in his mouth.

Dust was the last person to get a bowl of popcorn and was  _ very  _ vocal about his complaints; only shutting his mouth once the broadcast started and was forcibly shushed by the closest person to him— Horror.

Blue was almost relieved that the broadcast came on, since Dust's whining was cut off. But at the same time, seeing Ink and Dream again was filling him with a sense of dread, and he curled up into a ball, hugging his knees close to his chest.

  
  


Almost immediately Blue could tell that this wasn't a normal broadcast; it seemed much more somber, and he could immediately tell that the contents of this broadcast would be darker than usual.

Ink was standing alone, staring directly at the camera with zero hint of his usual playfulness. He seemed completely serious for once, and something about that was incredibly intimidating. In the past, no matter how much they tried to shut everyone else in the room during a broadcast, they never could; which is why the complete silence from the broadcast was also off putting.

The lighting was different as well, it was darker— casting shadows on Inks face that made him look that much more threatening.

Blue could see that Inks eyelights had a slight red hue to them— a subtle yet surefire way to know that Ink was  _ pissed. _

  
  


"Hello citizens of the multiverse. I'm sorry to make an emergency broadcast on such short notice— but we unfortunately have some very grave news to announce."

Uh oh, Ink sounded much more professional than usual. Whatever this was,  _ it was going to be terrible news. _

"As you may recall, Blue, an Underswap sans who was previously a part of the Star Sans' went missing around 11 months ago. This isn't the case anymore, as he was spotted a couple of days ago in Reapertale."

"But he was spotted with the guardian of negativity, leader of the Dark Sans', and a threat to the very  _ fate  _ of the multiverse itself. After a few hours of discussing this sight, we have come to the conclusion that this was because he was willingly working with Nightmare on something— we are unsure on what exactly at this point of time, but whatever it is, this is still an extremely grave situation."

"Blue has betrayed us, betrayed the entire  _ multiverse _ ; an extremely deplorable crime. Since Blue used to be a Star Sans he has knowledge of some  _ very  _ important information— information that would be detrimental to us if the Dark Sans' were to get ahold of. And since he has betrayed us in order to help the Dark Sans', he is  _ extremely  _ dangerous and needs to be dealt with immediately. We need to stop him, even if it requires excessive force."

...Excessive force?

"If you ever see this Sans in an AU, it is  _ your  _ duty as a member of the multiverse to detain him and bring him to a member of the board immediately. He is too dangerous to be kept alive, and will be executed once he is caught."

  
  
  


Ink continued speaking— but by this point Blue couldn't hear him anymore. 

He felt lightheaded and dizzy, wobbling slightly.

"Blue!? Blue— are you ok!?"

" _ What the F(UNK) was that!?" _

"Is the ink blotch being serious right now!?"

"How could… how could they do that!? Wasn't Blue one of them at one point!?"

"Blue, look at me, please. I need you to breathe— take a deep breath in."

  
  


Blue looked up to see Nightmare, but he looked a little blurry. Why was he blurry? 

...Oh…. It was probably because he was crying….

Blue couldn't believe what he had heard…. No way…. Ink was talking about another Blue! Or— or maybe it was satire!? There's no way… There's no way Ink would want him dead!

  
  
  


...Right?

  
  
  
  
  


~~~~

  
  
  
  


It took an hour to fully calm Blue down, and everyone seemed angry. Seeing the furious expressions on everyones faces made Blue even more anxious for a while; but now it had no effect on him.

  
  


Now Blue just felt numb… and cold. By this point the anxious trembling has turned to shivering; which Fresh took note of and immediately wrapped him up in a blanket.

Blue stared numbly at the ground as Cross cuddled up to his side.

He felt so… empty.

It was extremely disconcerting.

  
  


"...Blue, I think we need to talk about what happened when you were with the Stars— because I think something happened," Nightmare spoke up, his voice also lacking emotions.

Blue didn't respond, he didn't have the energy to.

"Can you tell us why you left the Star Sans'? And be honest this time, please."

"It's…. It's dumb. But Ink was being mean. That makes me sound like a child."

Blue felt something— a hand— gently be placed on his left shoulder. It was probably Fresh.

"...Mean? Blue, can you elaborate on that?" Nightmare sounded almost… concerned? Well, he wouldn't be once Blue would tell him.

"He'd call me names. Or slurs. Or yell at me… It probably didn't happen. That's not stuff Ink would do. I'm probably just crazy. Or maybe I dreamt it all? Yeah. That makes sense. I think I'm dreaming right now? This doesn't feel real. This feels like a dream. I think I'm dreaming. There's no way this would happen in real life," Blues voice was completely monotone.

"Blue… Why do you think you dreamt it?" Fresh asked gently from beside him. "Did this only happen once? Or did this happen multiple times?"

"It happened a lot. But that's not something that Ink would do. He's too nice for that. I've been known to remember things wrong. And I've been known to be overdramatic. It makes sense."

The room was silent for a moment; then Fresh broke the silence.

  
  


"Blue… Considering what we just saw, I don't think you were imagining things. If Ink can do something like  _ this _ , him abusing you makes sense."

"Abuse? I wasn't abused. You're getting ahead of yourself. Why would he abuse me? If it was abuse why didn't Dream do anything when I told him? I'm going crazy— or imagining things. I don't know."

"You told Dream and he didn't do anything!?" Cross sounded appalled, if Blue wasn't so empty he probably would have flinched at the shout from beside his head.

"What the hel(ly)... They do this s(hazam) and have the audacity to call us the bad guys!?" 

'What the f(unk) did we f(unking) expect from the grown toddlers running around playing god!?!?!? Common sense? Decency? Let's be honest— those expectations are way too unrealistic."

"No… that's not….. that's not true. He, he did-dn't do that-t" Blue started trembling once again, his teeth clattering due to sheer anxiety.

He felt Cross' arms wrap around him tighter, and another pair of arms joined his. More pairs of arms settled around him as Dust joined, Horror tentatively joining. 

A hand patted the top of his skull as Blue let out a shaky gasp— that was probably Error. Something cold also wrapped around him, one of Nightmares tentacles.

It was here, being suffocated by the gang that Blue finally realized it. The behavior Ink had started 17 months ago actually happened. Ink… Ink wasn't the same as before. It happened. He wasn't crazy. It happened.

But now he was safe. The gang would protect him. They were safe. 

  
  


~~ Or were they? Afterall, if Ink could do that to him who says they wouldn't do it either? How can he trust them? ~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly in shock that I FINALLY managed to reach this chapter. This chapter signifiez the beginning of the end in a way. It's going to get worse from here— trust me.
> 
> I still remember coming up with this plotline back in August and freaking out over it haha. At first I was kinda against the idea of using this plotline, but I'm glad that I used it in the end. TLBCAD would have been a completely different story otherwise.
> 
> Anyway, you can harass me over at call-me-diva2.tumblr.com!


	39. Chapter 39

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ink stared at him as if he was the dumbest person alive, shock and disbelief evident on his face.
> 
> Though Dream still couldn't feel any feelings coming off of him.
> 
> AKA Dream confronts Ink AGAIN.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Hi. 
> 
> So, it's been a bit, hasn't it?
> 
> I truly am sorry for not uploading for a bit, turns out having a terrible English class is a huge motivation killer! But, now that I don't have to suffer through that mess anymore my motivation is starting to come back. This chapter was originally going to be some fluffy bonding time between the gang, but I decided to just cut that chapter out of the fic. I might write it as a chapter for TEPSE if anyone is interested in reading it. 
> 
> Anyway, I'm REALLY excited about where TLBCAD is going to go from here... there are quite a few big things coming up soon.
> 
> But, enough rambling from me, enjoy the chapter!
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER
> 
> -There is a bit of ableism  
> -There are talks of executing an innocent person  
> -There are mentions of death/murder  
> -A brief hint to self-harm.  
> -A character is acting very manipulative

Dream had been  _ furious  _ when he saw the message Ink had sent out to the multiverse. Them??? Executing Blue??? Was he being serious??? Well, yes — if he wasn't being serious he wouldn't have broadcasted that to  _ the entire multiverse.  _ He had never been this furious in his entire life, and the malice rising up within him almost made him feel sick. 

When he had first been asked about a message from another member of The Asterism Board, he had initially thought that they were toying with him. But when he found out they were being  _ serious _ , it was shocking.

It was so unlike Ink to make such a major decision without consulting any of them first! Especially when it comes to matters like life and death.

Dream stood in front of the room to Inks door, glaring at it. He was still so furious that his hands were shaking. 

Knocking once, Dream quickly barged into the room before Ink could give him permission to enter.

Ink was sitting at his desk, holding a pen in his hand with a stack of papers in front of him. He quickly put his pen down when Dream stomped into the room. There was a scowl on his face as he watched Dream angrily tramp over to his desk.

"INK, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" Dream couldn't refrain himself from yelling at his fellow guardian, who didn't even flinch at his aggression.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh _come on_ , don't play dumb with me!! You obviously know what I'm talking about!" 

"No, I don't," Ink's voice sounded monotone, lifeless. He felt like nothing, a feeling that Dream has been picking up more and more frequently recently.

"Seriously, Ink? You publicly announce that you're going to  _ execute Blue _ and you still have the audacity to act as if you don't know what you did wrong!?"

"But I didn't do anything wrong. It was the right choice to make."

Dream was stunned into silence for a moment, until white cold rage filled him. 

"Ink! How can you say that!? Do you seriously think that killing Blue is the right move? That it's justified!? You knew him for so many years yet you can just turn on him in a second!? We don't even know why he was with Nightmare, or what his situation is like! He could be a victim for all you know and by saying you're going to kill him you're trapping him in that abusive environment! Did his friendship mean so little to you that you can seriously think so lowly of him!?"

Ink said nothing for a moment, simply glaring at Dream. Then he spoke up.

"Blue betrayed us. He's with them now — and he's  _ dangerous.  _ He's threatening to stop me from building my  _ perfect multiverse, _ and I won't stand for it," Ink was looking over the papers in front of him as he argued with Dream in a bored tone of voice.

"You don't have any evidence that he betrayed us!"

"And you don't have any evidence that he  _ didn't  _ betray us! Think about his behavior before he left, it seems much more likely that he betrayed us if you think about how he acted. He lied about me, he was grieving, he was constantly acting out, he  _ yelled at us _ ," Ink pushed the papers aside, finally putting all of his effort into the conversation.

"Ok, and!? He was grieving over  _ losing  _ his AU — that wouldn't make him suddenly join a gang of murderers all of a sudden!"

"Surely you can't  _ actually  _ think that." Ink frowned, disappointing lacing his tone like venom, fueling Dream's frustration.

"Of course I  _ actually  _ think like that! I know, Blue,  _ you  _ know Blue! That's not the type of person he is, and that's not the type of decision he'd make! Even if he was grieving over his AU, what kind of person would do something like  _ that _ !?" Dream flung his hands in the air in frustration.

Ink stared at him as if he was the dumbest person alive, shock and disbelief evident on his face.

~~ Though Dream still couldn't feel any feelings coming off of him. ~~

"...Basically every single member of the Dark Sanses has either lost their AU, or had everyone from their AU killed, it's happened before," Ink spoke slowly, as if Dream was a child, as if he was too dumb to comprehend what he was trying to say and needed it spelled out for him.

Dream felt frustrated at that, opening his mouth to object to Ink's point — a choked noise being the only thing that escaped him. He could feel himself start to tremble, glaring at Ink in an attempt to hide that fact.

"Yeah, but none of them are _Blue_. Blue, our fellow guardian, who swore to help us end the Dark Sanses reign of terror, who doesn't even have a shred of execution points! I-it doesn't make sense for Blue to make that decision, unlike the _actual_ Dark Sanses."

"Blue is an attention seeker, it makes  _ perfect  _ sense for him to make a decision like this. After all, what better way could there possibly be to gain everybody's attention?"

"Ugh— Blue is  _ not  _ an attention seeker!" Dream felt offended on behalf of Blue at Inks words.

"Oh, really? Well how do you explain his actions before he left? The temper tantrum he pulled? The constant babbling about  _ himself  _ and  _ his AU _ ? His overdramatic nature and how he over exaggerates everything? The lies he spread about me!?" Ink frowned, frustration becoming evident in his body language.

It was so confusing to Dream, because even though his body language was screaming frustration, he still couldn't feel any emotions from his fellow guardian.

"...How do I know he was lying?"

"...What?"

"How do I know he was lying about you, Ink? If you're not above senseless  _ murder _ , how do I know that you aren't above emotional abuse!?" Dream had started off his question as merely a whisper, but he couldn't stop himself from raising his voice near the end.

_ Please tell me he didn't do all of the things Blue said. Please,  _ please _ tell me I didn't just brush off a victim like that… Please tell me I know who Ink is, I wouldn't be able to handle everything being a lie... _

"...And just  _ what  _ are you implying? Do you really believe  _ him  _ over  _ me _ ? You're clearly not of the proper state of mind if you're thinking like this."

"Not in the proper state of mind!?  _ You're  _ the one who's clearly not in the proper state of mind, Ink!"

"You're choosing to believe a traitor to the multiverse _over me, Dream_! You're delusional if you think that thinking like that means you're in the proper state of mind." 

Dream couldn't help the snarl that made its way on his face as he reached a hand out towards Ink, to just try to shake some sense into him.

And that's when Ink reached out and caught his wrist, causing Dream to gasp in pain.

On instinct, Dream tried to yank his hand back, but Ink had a vice-like grip on his wrist. 

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Dream, and squeezed his wrist even tighter. Dream couldn't help but cry out slightly, attempting to pull away yet again in vain.

"See? You just proved my point. You're  _ clearly  _ not mentally sane, and I should send you to the psych-ward. Someone who belongs in the psych-ward  _ can't  _ make decisions that have an impact on  _ the entire multiverse _ . You're not able to out the needs of the multiverse above your own."

What on earth was going on? This…. This wasn't like Ink. 

Dream knew logically that Ink's words were true, he wouldn't be able to put the multiverse's needs above his own. He felt like he could put the whole multiverse in danger without feeling a shred of remorse as long as he could ensure Blue's safety.

"See? You know I'm right. Just, accept that you're in the wrong here. If you do that I'll promise to just leave this whole thing behind us, ok? It will be like it never happened."

"...No, I… I can't accept that." 

Ink narrowed his eyes. A blatant warning. Dream decided that he would ignore this warning, no matter the consequences.

"This is insane Ink." Dream couldn't help but scoff at the artist, who was still holding his wrist.

"Well  _ you  _ don't get to say what is and isn't insane. Thinking we should leave a dangerous  _ traitor  _ alive and risk the safety of the multiverse is insane!"

"But what if he  _ isn't  _ a risk to the multiverse!?" 

"You aren't in the right state of mind to judge that! You're just going to ignore all of the red flags that pop up because you want him back. Grow up, and stop putting the multiverse at risk."

"Is it really so important that you're willing to execute someone who is  _ most likely innocent, someone we knew for so long? _ " Dream wasn't even aware that he  _ could  _ feel this type of fury, it just wasn't a part of his nature normally. But he 

"Yes, Dream. Being a guardian of the multiverse means that you have to make tough decisions like that."

"There's no way, you're wrong, a guardian shouldn't do stuff like that! We have to  _ protect  _ all of the innocent people, that includes Blue! And what you're saying… it doesn't sound like being a proper guardian to me!"

"Well maybe you're just not fit to be a guardian _. _ "

The words came out low, and threatening; Dream couldn't help but freeze in fear when he felt the burst of emotion from Ink, one of the first emotions he's felt from his guardian in a while. A burst of cold, pure, bloodlust.

"What!? Ink, what's that supposed to mea-"

That was when Ink lunged at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Ok, I lied about the rambling.
> 
> There will probably be a couple of typos/spelling/gramatical errors in this chapter, so if you see any please feel free to point them out to me! A lot of this chapter was written late at night, and there is the possibility that I missed something while proofreading, so that's the excuse I'm going with!
> 
> Um, I'm not sure when the next chapter will be released, I'm working on something else related to the UTMV right now, so that will probably be my priority until I finish it. 
> 
> But! If you want to ensure that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth in between chapters, you can harass me at my tumblr blog call-me-diva2.tumblr.com 
> 
> Alright, bye for now!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Thanks for reading, and get ready to be heavily disappointed.
> 
> Don't be shy to roast me for any errors in the comments below, I am writing this fic partially as a learning experience after all.
> 
> Good luck reading my god awful writing.
> 
> Enjoy?~

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Redemption](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26150485) by [BookwyrmFinallyGotAnAccount](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookwyrmFinallyGotAnAccount/pseuds/BookwyrmFinallyGotAnAccount), [call_me_divaa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/call_me_divaa/pseuds/call_me_divaa)




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